Hiding in Plain Sight
by Saissa
Summary: This is my new Harry Potter Alternative Universe. Harry Potter discovers that he does have relatives when they rescue him from the Dursleys. Harry later decides to hide in plain sight so he can see what the wizarding world really thinks about him. Rated T for language. Updates will NOT be regular. NO Slash. Friendship only.
1. Chapter 1

Petunia Evans had been devastated when her younger sister Lily was accepted at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the young age of eleven. She blamed this event on that nasty boy who lived down the street. His name was Severus Snape and he had become Lily's close friend. Petunia considered Lily's decision to choose this magical school over staying with her sister, as a huge betrayal. Petunia herself had written to Headmaster Dumbledore begging to be allowed to attend Hogwarts as well, but had received no reply.

On the day that young Lily and Severus were supposed to be at the Kings Cross station in order to catch the train, Petunia had become all rebellious and refused to attend and say goodbye.

"If I'm not good enough for that snobbish school, then I don't want to know anything about it" she yelled, slamming the door as she left the kitchen.  
Lily was devastated that her older sister was angry with her, but young Severus soon cheered her up.

Over the next few years, Petunia became more and more rebellious and wild as she went through her high school years. She drank, and smoked and even developed a reputation for being an "easy" girl.

Petunia was forced to speak to her parents one day when she was seventeen years old, to tell them that she was pregnant and that she was moving out of the house to live with the baby's father. She also demanded that they NOT try and find her. Naturally Mr and Mrs Evans was upset and devastated.

Petunia moved out of their Spinners End home, where she and Lily had grown up, and into a small village in Surrey called Little Whinging where she hurriedly got married to Vernon Dursley. She lost the first child but later gave birth to a baby boy named Dudley. Vernon had found a new job with the Grunnings Drill company on the assembly line.

Since Petunia had grown up in what she considered to be an "abnormal family" she desperately wanted her new family to be perfectly normal so she was determined to squash any and all mention of magic out of their lives. She had not told Vernon about the existence of magic. In fact, she not even told Vernon that she had a sister.

As far as Vernon knew, Petunia was an only child. She had not seen Lily since Lily's last summer vacation at the age of 15. By the following summer, Lily had turned sixteen and was betrothed to her boyfriend, James Potter. She spent the summer with his family. When she turned seventeen, Lily had legally become an adult in that world and she had chosen to stay there as well, thereby being permanently lost to Petunia for good.

Petunia was very protective of her baby son Dudley. In fact you could say she was over protective. Petunia was in fact looking out for any signs of magic, and was determined to squash it or ignore it, if it should ever happen in her normal family. No child of hers was ever going to attend that abnormal school that had taken her precious sister away from her. She wanted nothing to ever take her son away from her either.

This was the situation on the morning of November 1, 1981 when Petunia got up to prepare Vernon's breakfast the way she always did. She was shocked to hear the sound of a baby crying nearby. She tracked the sound of crying to the front door of her house and on unlocking and opening the door, she was shocked to find a baby on the doorstep, wrapped in a blanket and with a note tucked inside the blanket.

"Vernon!" she yelled. Vernon hustled down the stairs to rescue his wife.

"What is that?" She demanded, pointing to the dark haired baby on the doorstep. "Is this your baby? Have you been having an affair Vernon? Could one of your sluts have dumped your baby onto our doorstep?"

Vernon held up his hands. "No Petunia. I promise you, I have not slept with anyone. I dont have any other children. Let's see what the note says, OK?"

Vernon lifted the baby and blanket up, brought the baby inside and shut the door. He pulled out the note.

To Mrs Petunia Dursley

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

My Dear Petunia,

I regret to advise you that your sister Lily Potter nee Evans and her husband James Potter were both killed on Halloween by a wizard who is currently terrorizing our world. The only survivor was their son Harry James Potter. Harry is 15 months old. His birthday was July 31, 1980.

I implore you to please accept Harry into your family and raise him. He needs to be out of our world for his own safety. To that end, I have created special wards around your home at 4 Privet Drive that will prevent the Terrorist and his army from locating you. As long as you all reside at this address, you will all be safe.

I will be in touch again when the time comes for Harry to receive his letter. In the meantime, please try and help him to control any outbursts, by helping him to control his emotions.

Again, I am very sorry to have to convey such sad news to you. I am sorry for your loss.

Sincerely

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts School

Supreme mugwump of the ICW

Chief Wizard of the Wizangamot

"Sister? Wizard? Outbursts? What the hell is this, Petunia?" Vernon yelled.

Petunia had dropped her face in her hands on hearing the news that her sister was now dead and that her nephew was now her responsibility.

"What are these lies? There is no such things as wizards, Petunia. No such thing as magic!"

Petunia raised her face and nodded her head.

"Yes, Vernon there is. Magic does exist. I've seen it with my own eyes. A long time ago sure, but I have seen it. My sister was a witch. When she was eleven years old she was sent off to a special school to learn how to control her magic. Now she is dead and I have to raise her son, my nephew."  
Vernon stood up and leaned over his wife in a threatening manner.

"Well now that we have established that this freak comes from your side of the family and not mine, I will not be responsible. You can raise this child however you like, but not with MY money. My son comes first in all situations. If they are both crying, you will settle my son first before this one. You will feed my son first before this one. You will play with and educate my son first before this one. If they are ill, you will tend to my son first before this one. Also I do not want to see or hear anything about this so called magic of yours. There is NO such thing as magic. Do You Understand?"

Petunia nodded.

Vernon headed back to the stairs. "I'm going to have a shower and get dressed. I want my breakfast ready when I come back down."

Petunia nodded again.

Four years later when it was time for both Dudley and Harry to start school, the difference between these two cousins were huge. Dudley was already 3 feet and 8 inches tall. Harry was just under 3 feet tall. Dudley weighed 5 stones, while Harry weighed barely half of that. Dudley had a stocky frame which he used to bully anyone he didn't like, or anyone who tried to be friends with Harry. Harry was quite thin and all of his ribs were prominent on his small frame. He had no extra fat on his body at all. While this was ideal for an adult, it was not ideal at all for a child. Dudley had two whole bedrooms, one for himself and one for all his toys. Harry slept in the cupboard under the stairs.

Harry did most of the chores. "To pay for the rent of the cupboard," he was told. He was making breakfast every morning and lunches on the weekends, except for those days when he was locked in his cupboard for punishment. Petunia still made the dinners. Harry also cleaned the house, dusted the furniture, vacuumed the floors, mowed the lawns with an old 6 bladed rotary mower (rather than one of the new electric mowers), washed the car, did all the laundry, and cleaned the windows. Dudley did nothing at all.

As for food, Harry was never actually given a plate with food on it. He was also never allowed to sit at the table with the Dursleys. He could only grab whatever he could while he was preparing meals and whatever leftovers there might be after dinner. It didn't take long for Dudley to understand this. So he made a point of eating everything on his plate and demanding a second helping and eating all of that as well. Purely so that there was less food available for Harry. And if there were NO leftovers then Harry did not get to eat at all. Dudley always tried to ensure that there were no leftovers.

Vernon checked the bills regularly to ensure that Harry was not using up precious water, or electricity or other hard-earned resources for himself only. It was acceptable for Harry to use these resources only when it was the benefit of the Dursleys. While Petunia and Vernon both never hit Harry, they did ignore him as much as possible. Dudley on the other hand, had been allowed to hit Harry whenever he wanted. So Harry spent most of his free time in his cupboard whenever he was not doing his chores. Whenever Dudley was not outside playing or chasing Harry, he could be found in the lounge sitting in front of the TV, watching the cartoons. If Dudley ever got into trouble, he always blamed Harry and nothing would happen. Dudley was never punished and Harry was just ignored.

No one ever purchased clothes for Harry. He was always given Dudley's hand-me-down clothes. Harry had no idea when his birthday was, or even how old he was. He was not terribly sure what his name was either. He was called Boy, and Freak, a great deal more than he was called Harry.

In the summer that Harry turned 5 years old, he was sent out into the garden and shown which were weeds and which were flowers, and was then told to pull up the weeds only. On his third day of doing this, Harry heard a voice hissing and muttering.

"Sstupid humansss. He isss pulling up the wrong onessss"

"I'm pulling out flowers? Nooo. Which ones are the weeds? I can't see them very clearly." Harry was panicking and also not realizing that he was hissing instead of talking.

"He speakssss to sssnakesss? Can he underssstand me?"

"Yesss, I can underssstand you." Harry was getting a little panicky by this stage. "Who are you? Where are you? I can't sssee you at all."

"I isss down on the ground, bessside you."

Harry put one hand down on the ground and starting patting and feeling.

"No ssspeaker. The other ssside." the snake hissed.

Harry switched hands, and soon felt a small snake, which he picked up and brought close to his face. It was a small green garden snake.

"Hello there." Harry didn't realize it, but he had a huge smile on his face.

"Hello Ssspeaker. You are the first human ssspeaker I have met."

"Thatsss ok. You're the first ssssnake I have met that I can talk to." Harry replied.

Then came a shrill voice from the house. "Boy. Put down that filthy snake and get back to work."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Harry yelled back, and slowly lowered the snake back to the ground.

"Pleassse stay, and help me pull up the right onessss?" Harry begged. "I have to pull out the weedsss, the ones that crowd out the flowerssss."

The snake knew the difference. Flowers were pollinated by the bees. Weeds were not.

"Yesssss, I will ssstay and help you. Do you have a name?" the snake asked. " No, not that one. The next one."

Harry moved his hand over to the next planet and pulled.

"Not sure what my name isss. They call me Boy, Freak or Harry," Harry's face turned sad for a few seconds as he continued pulling weeds. "Do you have a name?" he asked.

"Yesss. My name is Sssilasss." replied the snake. "Not that one. The next one!"

Harry's hand moved to the next plant over and pulled it out.

"Silas. Got it." Harry was quiet and then plucked up the courage to ask a question. "Will you ssstay with me and be my friend? I dont have any friendsss."

Silas agreed and then asked.

"Sssso why do you have problems with your eyes. Isss there nothing you can do to get them fixed?"

"Yesss, there are things that can be done to fix up my eyes, but I can't afford them. I have no money" Harry hissed back.

"Of courssse you have money. Your parentsss would have left you money at Gringottsss bank. You are a wizard, you know."

Harry stopped moving.

"A wizard? You mean I can do magic? How do you know?"

"Only someone with magic can speak to sssnakesss and sssince you are ssspeaking to me, that meansss you must be a wizard. You have magic."

Harry shivered."That isss a bad word. My aunt and uncle hate that word.

"What bad word?" asked Silas.

Harry didn't see anyone sneaking up behind him. Petunia interrupted the conversation by stepping on the snake and killing it. At the same time she was hitting Harry on the head and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Stop hissing and get back to work, you filthy lazy freak."

Several windows from neighbouring houses popped open as neighbours began listening in.

Petunia slapped Harry again and hissed in a low voice. "Now look what you have done. Now the damn nosy neighbours know how much of a freak you are. No food for you for a few days. Back into your cupboard. Now!" she hissed.

Harry stood up and walked back to the house. The neighbours eyes followed him.

As Harry disappeared inside the door, the neighbours eyes all switched back to Petunia who glared at them all with her hands on her hips.

Back in his cupboard, Harry curled up in a ball and sobbed quietly. He was pretty sure that his new friend, Silas, was dead. They had been talking for less than an hour, but Harry had discovered some vitally new information about himself.

He was a wizard. He had magic. He already knew that his aunt and uncle hated magic, but he had no idea why. His parents had probably left him some money in a bank. Now all he had to do was to find this Gringotts bank. But since Harry was only 5 years old, that would have to wait. Oh and he would have to somehow find someone who could fix his eyes.

It was three days before Harry was allowed out of his cupboard. He was lucky to have a bucket on one corner for bodily wastes, but the smell left him gagging. As always when he was finally released from his cupboard, the first place he went to, was the bathroom to empty the bucket and relieve himself.

When he got back to the kitchen, Petunia stopped him and told him to sit down. She got into Harry's face and growled.

"If I ever catch you speaking to snakes ever again, or performing anything else of a freaky nature, I will kill you. Is that clear?" she growled. Harry nodded.

"I didn't hear you. I asked you a question and I demand an answer. Is. That. Understood?" Petunia growled again.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Harry replied.

"Right. Now go and do the laundry. It's been piling up for the 3 days you have been absent!"

Harry did as he was told. He still had not had any food. He was lucky to save some leftovers from dinner that night.

Harry wondered how long he would have to wait to find out, where and how to find this place called Gringotts. But he knew he would never forget that name. He was quite perpared to have to wait until he was all grown up and he was out of this house, before he could do anything about tracking down this mysterious and magical bank. In the meantime, he must say nothing at all to the Dursleys.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N In Sept 2015, JKR changed Harry's paternal grandparents names from Charlus and Dorea Potter to Fleamont and Euphemia Potter. I prefer Charlus and Dorea, so these new names are now just their middle names. Lily's parents were never killed in any car accident, nor were they killed by Death Eaters. In this AU they are still alive._

The following September, and only because Harry had been seen by the neighbours in the garden, Petunia really had no choice but to enroll Harry at the local school. If she hadn't the neighbours would have started asking awkward questions. So Petunia told the school staff that the boys name was Harry Potter, his birthday was July 31st 1980, he was an orphan, his parents were killed because they were drinking and driving and that was when Harry got that awful scar on his forehead. He really was not a very nice boy. He was always doing things to get her precious son Dudley into trouble.  
Harry had not directly been taught his colours, shapes, letters and numbers. but being an intelligent boy, he had overheard and absorbed enough from Dudley's lessons given him by Petunia, for Harry to get by. Finally he discovered what his real name was and how old he was. He was Harry Potter and he was 5 years old.

At school, Dudley started up a new game now that he was no longer under his mothers eyes. He called it Harry hunting. He and his buddies, would chase Harry and when they caught him, Harry would be kicked and pushed and generally beaten up. If you were to ask Dudley why he did this, it was because Harry was a freak. But if you were to ask Dudley in what way was Harry a freak, Dudley could only say that he didn't know. He was only doing what his parents said he could do.

As a result of this new game of Harry hunting. Harry's running speed got faster and so did his dodging skills. If you were to ask Harry why he did not fight back, he would say that it was against school policy and that the school had a zero tolerance to fighting. The next logical question to ask would be, then why are the teachers not doing something about Dudley's hitting you. Harry's response would be, because I don't tell them. The next question would naturally be, and why do you not tell them? Harry's reply was logical from a 5 year olds point of view. Because then Dudley would just hit me more and even worse at home. Staying quiet avoids most of the damage.

Because of Harry's fast running and dodging, he was able to participate in athletics and won quite a few races in his first two years at primary school. He also joined the school soccer club and became a rather proficient soccer player. Harry was also top of his class and was showing clear signs of high intelligence.

Dudley was in the same class as Harry, but he was less inclined to study. At home, Dudley would often attempt to force Harry to do his homework for him, but Harry had ways of getting around that. His biggest trick was to give Dudley the American versions for those words that sounded the same as the English words, but had slightly different spellings. So Harry would often get 100% on his spelling tests and Dudley would usually only get 30 or 40 percent on his tests. When the report cards came out, the Dursleys just ignored Harrys report card, never bothered to sign it, so Harry never needed to hide his intelligence.

Until one day shortly before the end of the school year, when Harry was almost 6 years old, his class had a teacher who seemed to look down on smart kids who thought outside the box. One day, this particular teacher requested that the children draw a picture of their families. Harry didn't draw anyone. He left a blank page.

"Why are you not drawing a picture of your family, Mr Potter?" the teacher asked.

"I don't have a family, sir." Harry replied.

"Of course you have a family. You have the relatives that you live with. They are your family." the teacher boomed.

"No, sir. They are not my family. They are only my aunt and uncle. My relatives. Not my family at all. My parents are dead."

"I expect you to draw me a picture of you with your family by the end of today, or you will be punished." the teacher demanded.

Harry was very angry at the teacher for demanding something that Harry was not willing to do. So he had thought about turning the teachers hair blue, just to teach him a lesson. And so it happened. The teachers blond hair turned blue. Harry was immediately sent to the principal.

While he was waiting outside of the principals office, Harry's teacher barged in claiming that Harry was a freak for turning the teachers hair blue.

The teacher was stopped cold when the principal spoke in a cold voice.

"No teacher has the right to call ANY student a freak, no matter what they may or may not have done. Now you will apologise to Mr Potter, or you will leave this school, with NO reference." he demanded.

The teacher was gob-smacked. "So you are not going to punish the kid for turning my hair blue? So he gets away with this bullying? What are you going to do? Give him a slap on the wrist and tell him not to do it again? That is so not fair!" By the end of this rant the teacher was clearly whining.  
The principal stayed calm and tried again. "Will you apologise to Mr Potter?"

"Hell no. That freak turned my hair blue. You have to make him turn my hair back to its natural colour." The teacher was getting quite red in the face.  
"Then you sir, are free to leave this school permanently. And no, I will not be giving you a reference." The principal spoke in an ice cold voice, that sent shivers down Harrys back.

The teacher glared at the principal who stared back calmly. It was the classic, first person who blinks, loses, test. The teacher lost. He stomped out of the office, and back to his classroom, where he packed up his bag and left the school. The school librarian came into look after the class for the rest of the afternoon.

In the meantime, the principal called Harry into his office and had the boy sit down.

"Are you aware that you are a wizard, Harry?"

Harry looked at the principal with a panicked look on his face.

"Oh, don't worry." The principal smiled. "I promise that I won't tell anyone. I'm not allowed to tell anyone anyway, except for those people who already know. There is a statute of secrecy that I cannot break. But the point is, are YOU aware?"

Harry nodded.

"Can I ask who told you? Did your relatives tell you?"

Harry shook his head in the negative. He opened his mouth and it all came pouring out...

"A couple of years ago, I discovered that I can talk to snakes, and the snake told me that I was a wizard and then he said that I had to go to some place called Gringotts bank to find out if my parents left me any money, and then my aunt stood on him and killed him and I haven't spoken to any more snakes since then, and I don't know where Gringotts bank is, or how to get there. My aunt and uncle both call me a freak like the teacher did."

"Do you want to stay with your aunt and uncle, Harry?" Harry shook his head violently.

"Then I'm going to see if I can find someone else whom you can stay with. Someone who can teach you everything you need to know about being a wizard. Someone who will NOT call you a freak."

"Can I ask, how do you know about magic, sir? How did you know about me? My aunt and uncle both says that there is no such thing as magic. But if I can talk to snakes, then there must be magic that lets me do that."

"There were three things that told me that you are a wizard. First was your name, and that scar on your forehead. You are very famous in the wizarding world. Second was when you apparated onto the roof last month while you trying to get away from Dudley. And of course today you turned your teachers hair blue." replied the headmaster.

"I don't want to be famous." said Harry sadly. Then he perked up. "What about you, sir? Are you a wizard too?".

"No. I'm not a wizard," the principal replied, "but my sister was a witch. She was sent off to a special boarding school that claimed to be the best in all of Britain. It teaches young witches and wizards how to manage their magic. But when she finished that school, she could not get a job in that world because she was from our world, the mundane world. So she left the wizarding world and returned to our world. When she couldn't get a job here because she had no school qualifications, she killed herself. The wizarding world is not a nice place. They treat mundane-born witches and wizards rather badly."

"Mundane?" Harry asked.

"Everyone in Britain and the rest of the world who supposedly does NOT have any magic. That is actually most of the population. The percentage of people with magic is quite low. It may be as low as less than one percent. Those who do have magic are witches and wizards. Witches are girls and ladies, while the wizards are boys and men. They deliberately choose to keep themselves separate from the rest of the population. They also believe that just because they are magical, that makes them better and more superior than the mundanes. That attitude is called Bigotry."

He was unable to explain anything further since the bell rang signalling the end of the school day, right at that time.

The principal had no choice, but to send Harry back to his aunt and uncles place, but he promised to find a new guardian for Harry as soon as he possibly could.

That evening, Harry was able to avoid any major blowups with his cousin and his aunt and uncle and he was also able to grab some leftovers from their dinner so that he could eat.

That same evening the principal of Harry's primary school went home and made a phone call to David Hitchens. Once Mr Hitchens was on the phone, the principal started talking.

"Do you remember telling me several years ago about that baby named Harry Potter and how he had somehow killed the Dark Lord that was terrorizing your world? And the boy then disappeared and noone knows where he is? Well, I think I have found him. A kid named Harry Potter, aged 5 with a birthday coming up in July, and living with relatives that may be abusing him, was in my office today after turning his teachers hair blue. I asked him if he wanted to stay with his relatives and he said No. So I said I would try and find him a new guardian. This boy has all the signs of being abused. He said his relatives call him a freak just because he has magic."

"What does he look like?"

"He is short for a 5 year old with messy black hair and large green eyes."

"I'll come and look at him tomorrow at school. I may have some suitable guardians for him."

After hanging from that phone call, Hitchens made another phone call.

"Selwyn? I may have found him. His school principal called me today after he turned his teachers hair blue. No, I don't have any pictures, just a description. He was described as having messy black hair and large green eyes. Yes, I promise you can both come. Where? Oh he is in Little Whinging, Surrey. Dursley? Who are they? Oh. Um, I was only told that he was living with relatives and may have been abused." Hitchens winced and pulled the phone away from his ear, while the man at the other end was swearing up a storm. "Selwyn? Selwyn! Please calm down. Yes, I will do everything I can to get you and Rose approved as his guardians. We will have to take him to Gringotts to know for sure. But if he is your grandson, then we will of course use the ICW like we always do. Yes, yes, alright. I'll see you tomorrow. At your place. At 10 am? Agreed. Bye."

The next day, just before the lunch time bell went, Harry Potter was called to the Principals office over the school PA system. The class had a new substitute teacher who didn't know any of the students. So when Harry put his hand up, she sighed heavily and said, "Yes?"

"Ma'am. I'm Harry Potter. I need to go the Principals office, ma'am."

The teacher sighed. "Oh, All right. It is almost lunch time. Will you be back after lunch?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, ma'am."

She waved him out the door. Harry left and walked fast to the principals office. He half hoped that a new guardian may have been found for him already. But then again, guardians were not usually found this fast.

After knocking on the principals door, Harry was told to come in. Upon entering the room, he found the principal and 3 other adults sitting there, all staring at him. As he looked them all in the eyes, with a look of challenge, two of the adults gasped and nodded. The lady had the exact same vivid green eyes that Harry had. The three men could only look back and forth between Harry and the lady.

"Well?" asked the principal.

The two adults who had gasped, both nodded. "Yes." said the lady. "That's him. Those are my eyes, our Lily's eyes."

The school principal spoke to Harry. "Harry this is David Hitchens, the Principal of St Georges Academy of Magic. They take magical students from age 8 to 18. These two are Selwyn and Rose Evans, your grandparents. Your mothers parents. They would like to become your new guardians. As Blood relatives they have the right."

Mr Hitchens spoke up. "Harry. Nothing can happen immediately, but we will need to take you to Gringotts bank to get all of the paperwork sorted out. Is that OK with you?"

Harry nodded with a big smile. He had been wanting to get to Gringotts bank for the last 2 years. He then turned to his new grandparents and scowled.

"If you were my mother's parents, then Aunt Petunia is also your daughter, right? Why did you not know that I had been given to them? How come you never ever visited her. You never had any contact with her that I can recall. Why did you leave me with them?"

Rose began speaking.

"Petunia wanted nothing more to do with us after she left home and married that Dursley fellow. She felt that we had paid far too much attention to Lily just because she was a witch and Petunia assumed that we were ashamed of her because she was not. That was not true, but after Lily received her letter and went off to attend Hogwarts when she was 11, Lily and Petunia seldom saw each other and Lily chose to stay in the wizarding world after she graduated. The last time Lily came home for the holidays was when she was 15 years old, and she had just completed her OWL exams. That's the magical equivalent of the O levels, kind of.

"Anyway, we never saw Lily again after that, although she did write to us at least. If she wrote to Petunia, I have no idea if Petunia ever received those letters. The next thing we know was that Lily and her family along with her new baby, had gone into hiding and couldn't write to us at all. A year after that, she and her husband, James Potter, were killed because someone betrayed their location to the damn terrorists. We tried several times, to find out what had happened to you, Harry, but no-one knew. It was all very hush hush, and all we were told was that you, Harry were in a safe location. They said that we could not be told anything more because we were only Mundanes.

"The truth is that your grandfather and I are not just Mundanes. We are both pureblood squibs. We had allowed Lily to attend Hogwarts as a mundane-born in the hopes that her status might protect her. That was a bad idea. We are your grandparents Harry and we were raised in the wizarding world. But we were both kicked out when it was discovered that we are Squibs. We do have magic, but not enough to use a wand. Although she does not know this, Petunia is also a squib, and if her children have not shown any signs of magic, then they too are squibs.

"The reason why we never visited Petunia was because, quite frankly, she told us not to. She said she had not told her husband about Lily's magic and she wasn't going to and she did not want her freaky parents embarrassing her. So she ordered us to stay away. We had no idea that she would be saddled with her magical nephew. I'd like to know why we were not contacted to become your guardians. I think I will need to investigate this.

"Anyway, Harry. You were born of a witch and a wizard, and clearly you do have magic. And since we feel that the wizarding world is somewhat dangerous, and also as your new guardians, we would like to enroll you at St Georges Academy so that you start learning how to control your magic A.S.A.P. Hogwarts does not take students until they are 11 years old - just as secondary schools in the mundane world don't start until age 11. And like mundane secondary schools, Hogwarts only teaches for 7 years. But the Saint schools have chosen to start 3 years earlier to take advantage of young minds that are open to new ideas and want to learn. So their students are now enrolled at age 8 and get 10 years of both magical and mundane education.

"Now I know you won't be 8 years old for another 2 years at least, but as your guardians we can teach you anything and everything you need to know about the wizarding world, including how to survive and how to protect yourself from bullies. Believe me, in the wizarding world there are a lot of bullies. They all think that just because they have magic, they are superior to the mundanes. They have no idea of the technology that mundanes have, which is something we can use in our defense. They certainly could not survive in the mundane world, let alone blend in and become invisible. Consequently they would be breaking the secrecy act. "OK I've done more than enough talking. Do you have any questions, Harry?"

"Can we go to Gringotts? Today? Now? The snake was right. He told me that my parents probably left me some money. And I really really want to get away from the Dursleys."

The principal agreed that Harry could have the rest of the day off.

"Speaking of which, do we have to ask the Dursleys?" Rose asked.

"They don't really care about me. I have never asked them for permission to go anywhere. They will always say NO just because they can. I just go. If I get punished later, well I can handle that." Harry shrugged.

The adults all looked at each other, but decided that since Harry knew the best way to deal with his guardians, they would follow his lead. Besides, Rose was not sure how Petunia would react if her mother just called her up out of the blue, after demanding no contact.

Harry, his two new grandparents and the other Principal, Mr Hitchens, all piled into Mr Hitchens car, which was parked outside the school, and they were soon on their way to London.

It took a while to find a car-park, so it was already mid afternoon by the time Harry was able to get out of the car. He was told to hold onto his grandfathers hand, and to NOT let go for any reason. Someone found a baseball cap which was placed on Harry's head.

"To cover up that scar" Mr Hitchens muttered.

Then they were all walking towards a rather old and battered door with an old wooden sign hanging above it. The sign said "The Leaky Cauldron".  
Hitchens opened the door and led the others through. Harry found himself in a dark dingy looking pub with people dressed in what looked like medieval robes and clothes. Hitchens led the group down to the bar. As Harry watched, several people dressed in the same kind of old robes, entered the Pub through a side door and walked past Harry and his grandparents to the door that led outside to London. Hitchens led Harry's group past the bar to the same side door and opened it. Upon exiting the door, Harry found himself in a small courtyard surrounded by a high wall made of pale pink bricks.

Hitchens suddenly had a stick in his hand, which he used to tap several bricks and then the unbelievable happened. As Harry watched the bricks began moving until an archway was formed. It was clear to harry that the new grandparents had seen this before, but he was simply amazed. His eyes grow round.

"How?" was all Harry could ask.

"Magic, Harry." said Rose, as she took him by the hand and pulled him through the archway.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Mr Hitchens spoke and made a little flourish as Harry and Rose walked passed him.

Harry found himself surrounded by buildings that looked as if they were straight out of Tudor England. There was a rather busy crowd of people, many wearing more medieval type robes and women wearing pointed witches hats like mundane children wear for Halloween.

"Now I have to mention something, Harry." Rose spoke, while Harry was looking all around him, trying not to miss anything. He had lots of questions, but he stayed quiet. He knew that his grandmother would be happy to answer them later.

Rose continued speaking. "While this is the most famous magical shopping area in Britain, it is NOT the only one. This is actually a district and as such, there are several other alleys that run off this one. The bad one that I must insist you stay out of, is called Knockturn Alley. I'll show you where that one starts from as we go past it. We will check out the other alley's later.

"The first place we need to go is to Gringotts Bank. That is the large white marble building you see up ahead of us. Now I know you have never seen any goblins, but don't stare at them and be polite when or if they speak to you, OK? "

Harry nodded as he tried to keep up with the adults. They were walking pretty fast and Harry was almost running.

Running up the white Marble stairs, Harry barely had time to read the first two lines of the warning outside the doors, before he was dragged inside.

 _Enter, stranger, but take heed_

 _Of what awaits the sin of greed_

Once inside, Harry was stunned to see high desks manned by goblins lined up down both sides of the bank as Grandma Rose dragged him to a teller.  
They waited quietly until the goblin looked up and growled, "Yes?"

"We would like to speak to the Potter Account Manager, please."

The Goblin looked at Rose, and then at Harry and nodded. He waved an arm off to the side and said, "Wait over there. Someone will be with you shortly."

Rose nodded and she and Harry did as they were told. Less than a minute later another Goblin arrived and simply said "Follow me." before turning and leading the Evans to a door in the wall. The door opened into a long corridor with lots of doors. Eventually they stopped outside one door which had a sign that said "Director Ragnok" on it. The goblin knocked and the door opened.

"Enter." said a voice.

Grandma Rose, Grandpa, Mr Hitchens and Harry all entered.

The Goblin sitting at the high desk, waved them to the chairs. "Sit" he said. They sat down.

"I am Ragnok, the Director of this Bank. Why has Harry Potter or his guardian never responded to our letters?"

"Perhaps because I never received anything at all?" Harry muttered.

"What do you mean, you didn't get anything?" Ragnok asked.

"Exactly that. I never received any mail. At all. From anyone."

Ragnok sighed. "Can we just ensure that this is Harry Potter?" He pulled out a small dagger and a parchment. "We need just a few drops of blood in order to identify him."

Harry looked at Rose, who nodded. "Standard practice" she said.

"OK" Harry stood up, made a small cut on one finger and allowed three drops of blood to drip onto the parchment. In thin red spidery writing a long list of names appeared on the parchment.

Name - Henry James Potter

Mother - Lily Marie Potter nee Evans

Father - James Charlus Potter

Maternal Grandfather - Ivor Selwyn aka Selwyn Evans (Squib)

Maternal Grandmother - Rose Fawley (Squib)

Paternal Grandfather - Charlus Fleamont Potter

Paternal Grandmother - Dorea Euphemia Black

Head of the House of Potter - by blood (Paternal)

Head of the House of Selwyn - by blood (Maternal)

Head of the House of Gryffindor - by blood (Paternal)

Head of the House of Slytherin - by blood (Maternal)

Head of the House of Gaunt - by conquest

Heir to the House of Black - by blood adoption

Rose gasped. "Who has the Slytherin line?"

"You do, Rose." Selwyn replied. "Where do you think those big green eyes came from? Those are Slytherin eyes."

"Really?" Rose asked. Harry was looking at Rose with wide eyes. Ragnok, Hitchens and Selwyn all nodded.

"Cool." said Rose.

Ragnok looked at the older folks.

"May I ask who you all are?" he asked.

"I'm Rose Evans, Harry's maternal grandmother. This is my husband Selwyn, Harry's maternal grandfather. And this is David Hitchens the headmaster of St Georges Academy of Magic who has been helping us to look for Harry for the last five years."

"And where did you find him?"

"He was living with my older daughter Petunia and her fat ass husband Vernon Dursley. Petunia hates magic. She is also a squib although she has not been told this. She was very jealous of her younger sister Lily, Harry's mother. And I'm pretty sure that Harry has also been abused. Petunia and I have been estranged for the last ten years at her request." Rose replied with disgust in her voice.

"I also know that Lily told me that she did not want Harry to ever be placed with her sister. I hope she would have made it legal somehow. So I'm hoping that Lily wrote in her will that Harry was not to be left with the Dursleys. But since we have never seen the will, I would like to ask for it to be read at this time. I would like to know whom my daughter Lily did want to have raise her son." Grandpa Selwyn spoke up.

Ragnok nodded. Considering that Harry was clearly not being treated well, in his current environment, it was urgent that he be removed and placed with new guardians ASAP. Anyone who was NOT Albus Dumbledore. The goblins had never trusted Headmaster Dumbledore, especially now that he holding three very powerful positions of influence.

Ragnok called in a goblin to go and find the wills of James and Lily Potter. They arrived several minutes later but Ragnok was unable to open the folder.

"These have been sealed shut by the Wizengamot." Ragnok was shocked. "Only a member of the Potter family, or a legal guardian or a god parent can have these unsealed. So Harry, please stand up and repeat after me."I - Harry James Potter - do hereby acknowledge that I am the last living heir of the Ancient House of Potter and that I request that these wills be unsealed now."

Harry did as he was asked, and a quick flash of blue light danced around Harry and across the folder. Ragnok was now able to open the folder.  
Selwyn frowned. "Why were their wills sealed?"

"I suspect that Headmaster Dumbledore had something to do with that, the interfering old goat." Ragnok was not at all happy. "I'll just read out the guardianship parts for now. The Monetary parts can be dealt with later. Is that acceptable?"

Everyone nodded and Ragnok began reading.

Godmother - Alice Longbottom

Godfather - Sirius Black

Guardians of Henry James Potter in the following order, if godparents are unable to do so

Ivor and Rose Evans (grandparents)

Matthew and Catherine Selwyn (Cousins)

Cyrus and Margaret Greengrass (family friends)

"Under NO circumstances is Harry to ever be placed with Lily Potter's Sister Petunia Dursley nee Evans nor with ANY member of the Dursley family. They abhore and detest magic of any kind.

"A stipend of 1200 galleons per year is to be given to whomever does become Harry's guardians until he reaches the age of 11. Harry's Trust Vault will then support Harry until he comes of age or he is emancipated, which ever happens first.

"While we would like Harry to attend Hogwarts school, we are leery of the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He is too controlling of us and therefore may become too controlling of our son Harry. Harry may be enrolled at Hogwarts school only if the headmaster is NOT Albus Dumbledore. Otherwise the guardians are tasked with finding another magical school for Harry to attend."

After Ragnok finished reading the will out loud, he placed the parchment back on his desk and looked at the Evans.

"In the five years since these wills were sealed, unfortunately both sets of godparents are not available to look after Harry. Since you are the grandparents, as stipulated in these documents, you may continue to act as Guardians for Harry Potter. Do you require paperwork to show this?"

The Evans nodded. "Yes, we do."

Grandpa Evans spoke up. "We wish be Harrys legal guardians. We also need a magical guardian for Harry. I would like to nominate my nephew Matthew Selwyn for that position. He is a wizard and his name is also mentioned in the will. We would also like to legally adopt Harry so that he can change his name. The name Harry Potter is just too famous, but if he uses another name, he will be able to cope much more easily. This will not be a blood adoption, just a legal one. "

Ragnok nodded and asked."What new name would Harry like to have?"

"We thought about using Evans, but most wizards know that Lily's maiden name was Evans so instead, we would Harry's new name to be Henry Selwyn. This way he can still be called Harry since Harry is a well known nick name for Henry. And noone would think that Harry Selwyn was ever Harry Potter."

Ragnok nodded and agreed. "Henry Selwyn, aka Harry Selwyn. I like that. That is an excellent choice of name. I will have papers drawn up showing your legal adoption and Harry's change of name. I will also have other papers drawn up to be filed with the Ministry to make your requests of Guardians, both legal and magical, officially approved by the end of today. You and Mr Matthew Selwyn will receive your official copies by owl today or tomorrow. I don't believe anyone received any stipend. I will allow you to receive 6000 galleons backdated to cover the last five years. You will also receive 1200 galleons annually as stipulated in this will, until Harry turns eleven years old.

"Since Mr Hitchens is present, and since Albus Dumbledore is still the headmaster of Hogwarts, I assume this means you intend to enroll Harry Potter at St Georges Academy of Magic when he turns eight years old?" Ragnok asked. The Evans' nodded.

"Excellent. I will be keeping an eye on young Mr Potter. I will arrange for a public reading of the Potter Wills eventually, but not right now and not any time soon. He needs to stay in hiding for now, away from the meddling Mr Dumbledore. I will place the stipend in your vault before the end of today."

Rose spoke up. "We would like to request Goblin healers to look Harry over and check him out. We need that scar to be assessed and if at all possible, removed or at least, made a lot less noticeable. As I said earlier, we believe that Harry has been abused and neglected. I am so disappointed that my daughter has seen fit to treat her nephew in this abominable manner"

Ragnok nodded and called for one of the goblins to find a healer and send them to the office immediately.

The healer turned out to be a medi-wizard who ran his wand over Harry and frowned at the results being printed out on parchment.

Turning to the Evans he asked. "Do you plan for Harry attend any kind of school this year?"

"He will be attending St George's Academy when he turns 8 years old. We planned to home school him for the next two years. He has a lot to catch up on and learn about the wizarding world." Rose explained.

The healer nodded. "Excellent. Harry will need to be taking some nutrition and other growth potions over the next few months in order to fix up everything that is wrong with him. It will be much easier for him to do this in private. I would like to arrange a schedule of visits for Harry to come here so that he may start his new potions and medications." A schedule was quickly arranged.

"Is there any more business?" Ragnok asked. Noone said anything.

Ragnok looked at Harry and bowed his head slightly.

"May your gold continue to increase, Mr Potter."

"And yours as well. Thank you sir, for everything." Harry bowed back and tried to be as respectful as possible.

Harry took Rose's hand as the group left the bank and quickly walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron. Harry wanted nothing more than to get home to his new grandparents home and settle in. He was very excited. Finally, No more Dursleys!


	3. Chapter 3

The Relatives

 _A/N and Disclaimer - I do not own any of these characters. Nor do I own the schools. The Characters all belong to JKR and her publishers. The Saint Schools belong to Radaslab. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I make no income from this._

Harry never returned to the Dursleys home. He stayed with his grandparents. He was released from the primary school in Little Whinging with the principals permission. The Principal even received a gift from the Evans as a reward for finding their lost grandson.

As for the Dursleys. Well nothing much happened there after Harry disappeared. Petunia called the school to ask what happened to Harry after he did not come home. The Principal explained that Harry was now under the auspices of Childrens Services, and that the Dursleys had better not complain or the fact they had abused Harry would be brought to the attention of the Authorities which would allow them to drag the Dursleys into court for trial and possibly jail. Petunia shuddered and later told Vernon that the boy had run away and they were probably well rid of the freak.

Petunia had no idea that the principal had actually lied to her.

Since Dudley no longer had a ready made victim such as a cousin to attack, he began assaulting other children in the school. Their parents refused to stay silent so there were numerous complaints to both the school principal and the Police over the next four years. None of these complaints were ever resolved because the Dursleys refused to accept that their sweet Duddykins was actually committing all these horrible attacks. So by the time Dudley was 10 years old, he had a rap sheet with the police that covered more than 4 pages. Most of the crimes were assaults, theft and attempted assaults.

When the time came for Dudley to apply to Smeltings, Vernons alma mater, his application for enrollment was refused. Vernon was furious and demanded to know why. The school explained that Dudley Dursley of Little Whinging, Surrey, had a police record and therefore was refused entry because criminals were not permitted to enroll at Smeltings. Dudley was forced to attend Stonewall Comprehensive and continued his bullying behaviour. Shortly after his 13th birthday, Dudley Dursley was sentenced to a juvenile detention centre until his 18th birthday.

Petunia was horrified. Her family was no longer normal and her son was a criminal and it was all that freaks fault. If he had stayed at the Dursleys like he was supposed to, then Dudley would not have bullied anyone else and he would never have gotten any police record.

After Harry disappeared, Vernon had to hire a gardener to keep the gardens looking nice and tidy, because otherwise the neighbours would gossip about them. Petunia had to cook all the meals and spend her days keeping the house clean. They were too busy to notice what Dudley was doing until his police record was released. The fact that all the neighbours now knew that her son was a criminal was a major embarrassment to Petunia. She did not dare show her face on the street, knowing that all her neighbours were staring at her, gossiping about her, pointing fingers at her. Petunia became a shut-in and chose to stay home and keep the house clean.

Since there were no blood wards at the Dursleys home, headmaster Dumbledore did not notice anything different. The blood wards that Dumbledore had set up at the Dursleys home back in 1981, had fallen within the first 24 hours of Harry's arrival. They were gone even before Dumbledore had had time to set up his little tracking instruments back in his office.

Blood wards were illegal, but they worked on the emotion of love. Since there was no love whatsoever between Petunia and her nephew, the wards did not stay up at all. Indeed, after Vernon had told Petunia how Harry was to be raised, the boy had been dumped in the cupboard under the stairs to sleep that first afternoon and that had been his bedroom ever since. The wards had disappeared the moment Harry's cupboard door was closed behind him on that first day, leaving him in the dark.

After Harry's 6th birthday with his grandparents, he settled down to two years of home grown lessons from his grandparents and a few other select tutors. These studies included mundane subjects such as English, French, Latin, Maths, Science, Social Studies, Mundane History and Genealogy. He was also taught magical subjects such as Wizarding customs and traditions, Wizarding Families of Britain, Wizarding history, Wandless magic, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Astronomy.

Harry was also told many many stories about the wizarding world including stories about squibs, stories related to pureblood genealogical history, stories about his maternal grandparents who were now his guardians as well as stories about his mother and what little they knew of his father and his fathers friends.

The most important stories Harry had learned were those of his grandparents Rose and Selwyn Evans. As a squib Selwyn might have been able to make and dispense Potions in the wizarding world, if his family had not exiled him to the mundane world just for being a squib.

Upon first arriving in the mundane world, not knowing anything or anyone, Selwyn was soon picked up by an adult squib who patrolled the area around the Leaky Cauldron. Selwyn had been educated at St Georges Magical Academy. The closest mundane equivalent of potions were Essential Oils, and since these had been around for over 2000 years. Selwyn decided to make them his speciality.

In the twenty five years since he had graduated from St Georges Academy, Selwyn had built up his chain of retail stores which sold nothing but Essential Oils. The business was called Bare Essentials. There were now some twenty shops scattered throughout Britain, Ireland, France, Spain and Italy. There were also several branches of Bare Essentials in the largest magical districts of those same countries as well. More recently Selwyn had been attempting to branch out and break into the American market.

Along with his regular mundane and magical subjects, Harry also learned how to make and distill some of the basic Essential Oils. As he grew older he would learn how to distill and blend the more complicated Oils.

Harry also began to recover from the years of neglect and verbal abuse. He took lots of nutrition and growth potions. He also used Essential Oils for some of his health problems as well. He joined a local community soccer team and became a very good winger and goal kicker due to his fast running. Harry also began attending Tai Chi classes as a form of meditation and control for the later martial arts classes that were planned. Within a year Harry had grown six inches and was now almost as tall as his horrible cousin Dudley.

One of the more dangerous visits to Gringotts had enabled the goblins to remove the dark curse that was hiding behind Harry's scar. Rose had commented on how unusual it was to have a six year old scar that was still angry and red and that had clearly not healed up. Something must be preventing any healing from taking place. Once the curse was removed, the scar quickly became very faint and by the time Harry turned 8 years old, the scar was virtually undetectable.

Once the curse was removed from Harry's scar, his eyes and vision improved rather dramatically so that he was now able to see without the use of glasses. Both of these procedures allowed Harry to study more easily and he stopped having mysterious headaches and shooting pains from the scar that no longer existed.

Rose and Selwyn took Harry on many field trips around Britain, as well as short trips to France, Spain, Italy and Greece. Many of their trips were to magical shopping districts or wizarding historical places. There was one place that Harry voluntarily stayed away from, for now. Diagon Alley.

Harry had also been told the well known stories of what happened to his parents, why he survived and who had betrayed his parents to the Dark Wizard. But the fact that Harry was well known, and indeed, almost worshipped in the wizarding world, did not sit well with him at all.

One day Harry asked his grandpa if on his next trip to Diagon alley, he could, "...bring home some of the books written about me. I want to see how accurate they are."

Selwyn smiled. Here was another chance to stick it to the wizarding world. Sue all the authors and publishers of the Harry Potter books for printing inaccurate information.

"I have to drop off some more Product for the shop in Diagon Alley next week. I promise I will stop off at the bookshop and pick up some books for you. I'll also let our lawyers know as well."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Grandpa."

A week later when Selwyn arrived home with ten different books about Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Harry sat down to read them. Most of these books were aimed at children so he had no trouble reading them.

The first item of concern to Harry was the fact that every single cover portrayed a skinny boy with messy black hair, a scar on his forehead, and big green eyes behind a pair of round glasses.

"How do they know what I looked like? How do they know about my scar? No one from the wizarding world has ever seen me that I am aware of. I'm pretty sure that I have never seen or spoken to anyone who claimed to be a witch or a wizard. And while I think about it, WHO exactly placed me with the Dursleys?"

"What about squibs?" asked Rose. "Some of them, like us, have learnt how to blend into the mundane world. Most squibs however never do manage it. Was there anyone in the neighbourhood who dressed or acted weird and who paid a lot of attention towards you?"

Harry's face went white. "Mrs Figg! She used to babysit me whenever the Dursleys were away on holidays. They refused to take me with them."

"Do you know her first name?" Rose asked again.

"Arabella, I think." was Harry's reply.

"Then it is quite possible that she could have sent any description of you, photos of you, and news about you back to the wizarding world pretty easily and regularly. As to who she was reporting to, that we don't know for sure. But going on what Lily and James wrote in their will, I think it was most likely that damnable Dumbledore." Selwyn was getting quite hot under the collar about this invasion of his grandsons privacy. "This could also mean that it may have been Dumbledore who left you with the Dursleys."

"The good news Harry, is that you no longer have that scar, you no longer wear glasses and you have a new name." Rose continued thinking out loud. "You may have to wear a disguise whenever you go to any magical district in Britain. Perhaps wear coloured contacts to change the colour of your eyes, maybe dye your hair a different colour. And once you grow a few inches and fill out a bit, you won't be so skinny and thus you won't look quite so much like those boys on the covers any more."

Harry relaxed now that his grandma had offered some really good solutions for getting around unnoticed.

"The other good thing is that, we can do all your school shopping in the other alleys away from the main strip. My brother is a wand maker in Fine alley and we'll ask him to craft you a wand. He makes wands with NO ministry trace on them. We can avoid Ollivanders altogether. We don't even need to do that until you turn eleven which is several years away. Who knows how tall and how much you will change between now and then?" Selwyn was offering even more helpful solutions.

Harry settled down and began skimming through the books again. Most of them offered adventures that Harry had certainly never been on, fighting against creatures he had never heard of.

"What about magazine articles and newspapers. Does the wizarding world have those? Would I be able to see any back issues?" Harry asked.

"Yes, there are magazines and newspapers, but I'll ask Matthew to look into those and see what they have said about you." Selwyn replied.

Harry smiled again and continued skimming the books.

As he finished glancing through the books, Harry made his opinion known. "Grandpa, These are all fiction. Were they in the fictional section or the non-fictional section of the bookshop?"

"Non-fictional Harry. They are always sold as true stories about you, because you are a real person, and therefore these stories are sold as biographical."

"In that case we need to sue the pants off these people who write and publish these lies. Can you ask the family lawyer to start the process?" Harry's voice was plaintive. He really really did NOT want to be famous. And he certainly did not want anyone telling lies about him. Then an idea popped into Harry's head.

"You know, we could make it a crime to write the name of Harry Potter. They can say the name all they like. So every time they want to write the name of Harry Potter, they must get permission. Of course St Georges Academy will have permission to write the name of Harry Potter in any and all school related files if it becomes necessary, but anyone else who wants to write a story or mention my name in any book, story, article or letter, MUST obtain permission for each and every time they want to write my name. I can't stop people talking about me, so that won't be a crime, but writing about me will be a crime. How does that sound?"

Harry beamed as he mentioned his most diabolical plan yet.

"Certainly Harry. The next time I go to the Alley I'll speak to the lawyers and get those plans put into action."

Harry now had ideas just pouring out of him. "If we can put some magic into that so that magic removes the written name of Harry Potter anywhere in the wizarding world? Especially where permission has NOT been asked for the use of my name? Oh, and can we also do something about Mrs Figg, who lived in the area and probably spied on me?"

"I'll mention those ideas to the lawyer as well." Grandpa promised.

"Will this be the law in both the mundane and magical worlds or just the magical world." Rose asked with a grin.

"The Mundane world doesn't give a hoot about Harry Potter. So, my plan for this law to be legal only in the Wizarding world. That way magic can enforce it." Harry replied.

Selwyn nodded. "Good. I'm sure the lawyers can do that."

A week later when Selwyn visited the Diagon Alley district again, he stopped in to see his lawyer.

"Dempster Wiggleswade!" Selwyn exclaimed as they shook hands.

Wiggleswade worked part time for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (the DMLE) and part time for himself. This meant that he could never take on any criminal type clients or cases, because that would create a conflict of interest with the DMLE. Most of the time he dealt with legal problems such as wills, trusts, finances, patents, copyrights and other legal business matters.

"Selwyn. What can I do for you today?" Wiggleswade replied.

"Rose and I have been granted guardianship of our grandson Harry Potter and he is most unhappy at all the false things being written about him in our world. He wonders what the books, newspapers and magazines are saying about him. He would like to sue those authors and publications who are defaming his name. So far, everything he has read is completely false and yet the authors claim their books to be biographies. He has never spoken to anyone from the wizarding media. He would like to have a law passed that says that no one can WRITE his name for any reason unless they have permission. People can talk about him but no one can write his name. This will prevent his name from ever being printed or written in books, newspapers, magazines and letters ever again."

Wigglewade smiled. "Oh I do like that. Your grandson sounds like he is a very intelligent young man. Is there anyone or any group in our world that he wishes to be made an example of?"

Selwyn nodded. "If you can pass such a law without Dumbledore, and by extension the staff of Hogwarts, being aware, so much the better. We have some evidence that it was probably Dumbledore who placed Harry into the abusive environment in which he grew up, and believe me, it was not a happy one at all. Harry does not plan to attend Hogwarts school at all."

"What about his magical education?" Wiggleswade asked with a frown.

Selwyn sighed. "He will be homeschooled in all required Magical subjects."

Wiggleswade nodded. "Alright. I'll do this. How do you wish to pay?"

"How much of a retainer do you require?"

"Two hundred galleons a month for as long as I am on the case. Is that acceptable?"

Selwyn nodded and the two men shook hands.

"How do you want to proceed?" Wiggleswade asked.

"How often does Dumbledore head to Europe for ICW business?" Selwyn asked in reply.

"Usually during the summer while both Hogwarts and the Wizengamot are in recess."

"Good. So if you can aim to pass this law in the Wizengamot, during the summer, on a matter of some urgency, within the next two to three years if possible, that would be good. Dumbledore will not be present to whip up any support against this law. After the law is passed, then you can attack the authors and publishers for writing stories about a boy who now has no name, but whose likeness is similar. You also need to go after Arabella Figg, a squib who lives in Little Whinging, Surrey, and who has probably been reporting back to Dumbledore on Harry's activities and progress."

A contract was quickly drawn up with everything Selwyn had mentioned being written down including the payment and the deadline - no later than the summer of 1991. Since the current year was 1987, Wiggleswade had 4 years. Both Selwyn Evans and Dempster Wiggleswade signed this contract using a blood quill.

As far as the Ministry of Magic were concerned, the only people in the Mundane world who were aware of the Magical world were the Prime Minister and the Queen. And the only Magical school in Britain and Ireland was Hogwarts.

The Ministry of Magic seemed to have totally ignored, disregarded and forgotten all the Squibs who were summarily ejected from their world, all the mundane born magicals who left their world and all the family members of those mundane born magicals who knew that magic existed.

Selwyn and Rose had previously explained to Harry just how famous he was in the wizarding world. This was one reason why they had enrolled him at St Georges Academy as opposed to Hogwarts.

"Because Hogwarts is pretty much the centre of the wizarding world. Not even the Ministry of Magic can boast the same kind of history and influence that Hogwarts has."

The Evans' also explained that Harry was seen as the Saviour of the Wizarding world and that he would be expected to save them if the Dark Lord ever returned. Harry was also told of the celebrations that were held on Samhain - Halloween - for the defeat of the Dark Lord.

"No way." Harry snorted in derision. "If they expect me to save them, then they are delusional. And they expect me to celebrate the day my parents died? I don't think so. If the Dark Lord ever does return, they can save themselves. If he attacks me, sure I will fight. But only to save me and my family and friends."

Harry thought about what he had been told and eventually asked his grandparents if they knew why the Dark Lord had targeted his family specifically.

"Err, there were rumours of a prophecy, but we don't know the details." Rose replied hesitantly.

"Oh, now that is just perfect. Prophecies can refer to anyone. So WHO decided that this prophecy referred to me, huh?" Harry rolled his eyes.

Rose and Selwyn could only shrug their shoulders.

Harry was not at all happy with this situation. This meant he was famous for something that someone had manipulated his family into doing, and being killed for their efforts. If and when he discovered who this someone was, this person who was clearly manipulating his life, Harry was going to be most unhappy.

During the summer of 1988, Harry and his grandparents went on one last trip to Europe before he settled down to school. Harry spent his summer holidays travelling through North Africa. He and his grandparents visited the souks and bazaars of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt.

In Cairo, Harry was permitted to enter a couple of ancient tombs that had been cleared of many curses. He had also spoken to a few snakes, picked up some old books on magic from several book stalls, and had fun learning to speak a new language, that of Arabic. Harry loved this trip and he returned to England quite tanned from all the hours he had spent in the sun.

Harry arrived back in London August 27th, a Saturday. School was due to start the following Thursday, 1st September, 1988. Harry still had to get some items from his supply list. So on Monday 29th of August, Harry had his baseball cap in his bag just in case. He planned to test out the changes in his body and in his health, hoping that the natural changes had sufficiently disguised himself. He and Selwyn travelled by Underground to Charing Cross station and then walked up the road to the Leaky Cauldron.

Once inside Diagon alley, Harry and Selwyn moved quickly to the Daily Prophet building. This was a large square grey concrete building with very few windows, and absolutely no personality. It was just there. On one corner of the building, there was a very fancy set of stairs leading up to some very ornate double doors. Clearly this was the main entrance to the newspaper building.

Selwyn led Harry to the opposite corner of the building from the ornate stairs, where he promptly disappeared around the corner of the building. When Harry got to the corner he discovered a gap between the Daily Prophet building and the building next door that was taken up by a large tree. But there was a small space beside the tree, just large enough for one person to slip through. Slipping into the space, Harry discovered that the gap between the two buildings continued along a path and so did he.

When he arrived at the end of the Daily Prophet building, the path opened out into a large open alley with much more modern looking buildings and nice bright large store front windows. On the back of the Newspaper building he spotted a sign that said "Fine Alley"

"Fine Alley. Finally" Harry grinned. "I love it." He chuckled.

Harry spotted his grandfather standing outside a shop that had a sign above the door, and hurried to catch up.

Selwyn opened the door and pulled Harry through.

"William, I brought a customer!" he yelled.

"No need to shout, brother." A tall grey haired man replied as he moved into view with one finger covering his ear as if he was trying to protect it.

"Sorry William. I have someone here I would like you to meet. This is my grandson Harry Potter, aka Harry Selwyn." Pulling Harry forward, Selwyn continued speaking. "He does not need a wand at this time, but he will require one in three years. Should he get a wand at this early age?"

"Hello, Harry. Very nice to meet you. Will you be attending St Georges Academy?" William asked.

Harry nodded.

The man held out his hand and spoke. "An excellent school. I'm William Selwyn. And your grandfather here is my brother."

Harry shook his hand."Harry Potter, well Harry Selwyn actually. I have to get used to using my new name." he said as he introduced himself. "How come your last name is Selwyn, and Grandpa's first name is Selwyn?"

The two men chuckled.

"Because Harry, I changed my name when I was forced to leave the wizarding world and was dumped into the Mundane world." Grandpa Selwyn spoke up. "My real name is Ivor Selwyn. The Welsh version of Ivor is Evans. So I just swapped them around and got some mundane legal ID."

Harry nodded. He understood. This meant that his mothers maiden name was really Lily Selwyn and NOT Lily Evans.

"Good. Now are you right or left handed?" William asked.

"Right handed" replied Harry.

"I won't make you a wand right now. But I can show you the parts from which they are made, if you are interested?" Harry nodded again.

William pointed to a series of boards running along the counter top. Filled with small pieces of wood, different coloured feathers, and other interesting items.

"Run your hands lightly over all of these and indicate which ones 'sing' to you, which ones can you feel, which ones make your skin or body tingle, and tell me."

Harry nodded and slowly began feeling the wooden pieces.

Harry felt tingles in his fingers when his hands brushed over 2 pieces of wood, but then his hand came to rest on a piece of red wood and his whole body immediately felt lighter, not so burdened.

"This wood, Mr Selwyn. What is this wood? My whole body feels lighter and happy."

"That's Mahogany, Harry. An excellent choice. Now, do the same thing to find the best core." William remarked, pointing to another board that held feathers and other interesting items.

Within seconds Harry could feel his body singing as his hand hovered over a thin red line. "This one, Mr Selwyn." Harry replied with a huge smile on his face.

"Another excellent choice, Mr Potter. That is dragon heart string. While I won't do anything now, I will make a note of your choices and when you come back in three years time, you can test and see if any of those choices have changed."

Harry and Selwyn said goodbye and left the store.

Farther down the alley they came to a shop with a sign that said Bare Essentials. In smaller letters at the bottom, the sign said, Owners, Matthew and Catherine Selwyn. Selwyn stopped outside this shop and explained this was one of his shops, and that he would like to introduce Harry to his nephew and to Harry's new second cousins if they were home.

Stepping into this shop was an eye opener for Harry. All along three walls, both sides and most of the back wall, there were floor to ceiling shelves, all covered with small bottles of liquid of many different colours and shades. The bell on the door tinkled as Selwyn closed the door.

A dark haired lady emerged from the door behind the counter.

"Hello Selwyn. How are you? And who is this young man?" she asked.

"Is Matthew here? I'd like you both to meet my grandson."

The lady disappeared out the back and a few minutes later she and her husband both re-emerged.

"Hello, Uncle Selwyn. How are you today? "

"Matthew, Catherine, I would like for you to meet my grandson, Harry Selwyn. And Matthew, Rose and I have asked Gringotts to register you as Harry's magical guardian. I hope you will accept. We will continue to be Harry's legal guardians as specified in Lily's will. He will continue to live with us and he will be starting at St Georges Academy next week. That is why we are here. We have to get his supplies. I just dropped in so you can meet him."

Matthew moved over to Harry and stuck out his hand for Harry to shake. "Welcome to the Selwyn family, Harry. I would be happy to be your magical guardian."

Since Matthew's children were not currently in the house, Selwyn and Harry left fairly quickly and headed for the nearest bookshop so that Harry could purchase the necessary supplies.

The bookshop in Fine Alley was officially called The Book of Shadows. Unofficially it was just called The Shadows Bookshop. Harry was told that The Book of Shadows was a mundane phrase that referred to the family Grimoire or books of family magic. Every magical family had a Grimoire where family spells, prayers, blessings, curses, herbal recipes, family events, family feuds, family history, genealogy, alliances and enemies were recorded.

"Do I have a family Grimoire?" Harry asked.

"You should, yes. It's probably in the Family Vault. But you won't be able to access that until you are at least 17, or emancipated, whichever comes first." Grandpa Selwyn replied.

The owner of the Shadows Bookshop turned out to be Adrienne Selwyn, Matthews eldest daughter and Harry's second cousin. The shop had previously been owned by a mundane witch who gave it up when she got married. Adrienne was having so much fun. She sold a wide variety of magical books, as well as mundane books on magic and all the required textbooks for the Saint schools. Since Flourish and Blotts had a exclusive contract to supply Hogwarts textbooks, she was unable to provide their books. Not that she minded. The Saint schools were a much better education system. Adrienne herself was a squib and she had attended St George's Academy of Magic.

"Let's see your list," Adrienne demanded. "I want to see if anything has changed."

Magical Theory by Adelbert Wafling

Rune Dictionary

Ancient Runes Made Easy by Laurenzoo

Numerology by L Wakefield

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Most Potente Potions

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Ingredient Encyclopedia

Goshawks Guide to Herbology by Miranda Goshawk

The Universal Penman by George Bickham

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Nature's Nobility, A Wizarding Genealogy

"Nope. Nothing's changed." It didn't take long for Adrienne to bustle around the shop collecting all the books.

"That will be 28 Galleons please."

Harry paid with his new Gringotts debit card and asked Adrienne to shrink the books down, which she did.

Harry and Selwyn then had lunch at The Best Cafe further down the Alley, before negotiating the narrow path beside the Daily Prophet building exiting back into Diagon alley. Keeping his head down so that his eyes did not meet any else's, Harry and Selwyn made their way to the Leaky Cauldron which they hurriedly exited to return to their mundane home.

Once back home, Selwyn asked Harry a question.

"I see that one of your books there was written by Miranda Goshawk. In all the genealogical and family history I have told you over the last 2 years, are you aware that you are connected to the Goshawk family? Not descended from any of them, but definitely connected."

"Really?" Harry asked, very intrigued by this family connection. "Tell me about them and how I am related to them, Grandpa."

"You should start collecting the chocolate frog cards of all the famous Wizards. I bet you may be descended from or related to quite a number of them. Anyway. Miranda Goshawk, who wrote your Standard Book of Spells series, was the youngest of 9 children. She was born in 1912. Her parents were Norman Goshawk and Myra Buchanan. Myra came a from a large family, so for her to have 9 childern was not a problem. The fact that they didn't have any sons was a concern. So Norman and Myra did their best to make advantageous marriages for their daughters as much as possible. Most of the daughters found their own spouses, but some had to be married under a betrothal contract. Anyway the first three girls born to Norman and Myra Goshawk were a pair of identical twins named Corona and Carina Goshawk. They were born in the year 1900."

"Those sound like astronomical names. Could there be a Black connection in there somewhere?" Harry asked. He remembered his family history since he too was descended from the Black family.

"Very good Harry. Yes, Norman Goshawk's parents were Finlay Goshawk and Elladora Black. And Elladora Black was of course the daughter of the first Cygnus Black and Ella Max. Anyway, getting back to the Goshawk twin daughters, Carina and Corona, there is no record of whether Corona ever married or had childern. Carina however married a Scotsman named Malcolm Ross and had two daughters. Those daughters were Isobel and Catriona Ross. Isobel Ross married Robert McGonagall, and had three childern. They were Minerva, the only daughter, and two sons, Malcolm and Robert jr. The last known information I have says that Minerva McGonagall is a teacher at Hogwarts School. According to the genealogies, Minerva McGonagall is actually your fourth cousin. But she is more than forty years older than you. She probably does not even know that you and she are related.

Catriona Ross was born in 1920 and she married a Pureblood name Septimus Prince. Their daughter was Eileen Prince, was born in 1940, and she was last known to have been apprenticed as potions mistress, until she was raped by a muggle, disowned by her father and thrown out of the family. The child she had was named Severus Snape. He was born in 1960 and although he would have preferred to have used his mothers surname, Magic said that his surname was Snape, from his muggle father. That is what the inheritance tests revealed. Like his mother, he too has also become a very well known Potions Master. Like McGonagall, he is also your fourth cousin. And Eileen Prince and Minerva McGonagall were first cousins. Although whether or not, they knew that, we have no idea.

"As far as we can determine, you Harry are not descended from any of the Goshawk daughters. You are however descended from Cynus Black and Ella Max through their son Phineas Nigellus Black who was reputed to be the worst ever Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The good news is that you will not be attending Hogwarts. Their curriculum has been dumbed down quite considerably over the last fifty years. Not sure why yet, but that is not your concern at this time. Anyway, Phineas Nigellus Black had a son named after his father. This boy is known as Cygnus Black II. His daughter Dorea Black was born in 1920 and of course you know that her son is your father James Charlus Potter. He was born in 1960.

Ok now that's your fathers family history. Let me tell you about your mothers family. Once upon a time back in the late 1800s there was a wizard who lived in Wales. His name was Daffyd Selwyn. He had three sons, Ivor, Richard and William, or Gwylim in welsh. Daffyd married a pureblood witch under a betrothal contract. This was a match made for bloodline or dynastic reasons and not for love. Daffyd did his duty but he later said that he had no love for his wife whatsoever. It was a loveless marriage. Anyway, their first son Ivor turned out to be a squib. When he did not receive his letter to Hogwarts on his eleventh birthday, he was exiled from the family, but not disowned. That is a very important detail in genealogical history. So young Ivor was pushed through the door of the Leaky Cauldren into Mundane London wearing only his robes and carrying a small bag of clothes and some galleons. They did not even bother to change any galleons into Mundane money. He was later picked up an older squib who kept an eye on the Leaky Cauldron for Squib children being pushed out of the wizarding world. Since Ivor Selwyn had no mundane documents, he changed his name to that of Selwyn Evans and new documents were drawn up for the homeless boy whose house had gone up in flames and he was the only survivor in the family."

"Is that you, grandpa?" Harry asked.

Grandpa Selwyn nodded. "Yes Harry, it is. This is my story."

"Cool" Said Harry.

"Anyway, I was sent to St Georges Academy where I excelled in potions. I had also been interested in potions back when I was still with my family as well, but since potions cannot be brewed in the Mundane world, I developed an interest in Essential Oils. They are brewed or distilled in a very similar manner to that of potions, and what made them more interesting was that they had a long and reknowned history. So I went to a mundane university and graduated with a Degree in chemistry, and then became an Aromatherapy expert so that I could learn everything I needed to know about making and distilling essential oils. And, as you know, I've built up pretty good business out of it. I have been teaching you the basics of Essential Oils for the last 2 years and while you are attending St Georges, you can compare them with the potions that you will be brewing."

Harry spent the next few days anxiously awaiting the first day of school as well as reading his new books. There was even a small brochure about the Saint schools included with his books. He couldn't wait to learn about the history of the schools.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry woke up all excited on September 1st. While he was going away to school, He would actually not be terribly far away from his grandparents. Potter Bar and Epping Forest were barely 10 miles apart.

Harry got up, showered, dressed in his new school uniform, went downstairs for breakfast, did one last check of his trunk to make sure he had all his books and equipment, hung around waiting patiently for his portkey time, hugged his grandparents as he said goodbye, touched his packed trunk with one hand, picked up the portkey with the other hand, spoke the word, Activate, and felt himself being squeezed through a straw to emerge inside a large hall with numerous other children popping into existence just as he had done.

As he looked around he spotted a sign on the wall that said, "Year one, this way" with an arrow pointing the way. Harry picked up his trunk and followed the sign.

He was stopped by an older boy with black hair, and grey eyes, wearing grey robes. "First Year?" the boy asked. Harry nodded. The boy stuck his hand out to shake.

"I'm Dominic Yaxley, Fourth Year."

"Harry Selwyn, First Year." Harry replied. He recognised the name Yaxley as a dark name.

"Selwyn. That name is one of the twenty eight, so you pass" Dominic stated.

"I was told that this school does not discriminate along pureblood and non-pureblood lines." Harry frowned.

"Well yes, that is the school's official policy. But we purebloods cannot allow this policy of allowing mudbloods, half breeds and Squibs to learn magic. So we are infiltrating the Saint schools to bring them down."

"How long have you been working on this plan" Harry asked. Knowledge was power and he needed to know how long the dark side had been entrenched into the schools.

"Since I started in the first year. It was only thought of after the Dark Lord disappeared when he failed to kill the Potter brat." Dominic sneered.

"Oh yes, the Potter kid. I wonder what happened to him?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore placed him with his mundane relatives and told them that Potter was to be treated like a slave in order to keep the boy pliant and ignorant of our world. He will attend Hogwarts when he is eleven years old. We at least will not have to worry about him."

"Ahh, I see." Harry nodded. He was furious, but he had learned to keep his emotions under control. And he had some new information. Yaxley stopped beside a table with a Registration label on it.

"You must submit your name and personal information so you can be given your dormitory details." Yaxley abruptly turned and left the tables.

Harry looked at the tables. The principal David Hitchens was not present, so he stood patiently in a line and waited to be registered.

"Name."

"Henry Selwyn"

"Age"

"Eight."

"Date of Birth."

"July 1st 1980." The Selwyns had chosen a new Date of Birth for Harry in order to not be too much like the Potter kid. This would help make Harry one month older than he really was. It was also easy to remember since it was the first day of the month and not the last day.

"Parents or Guardians."

"Rose and Selwyn Evans." Fortunately no-one made the connection that these were Lily Evans' parents.

"Home town."

"Potter Bar, Hertfordshire, just north of London." Rose and Selwyn had moved to Potter Bar, after Lily had died and after Petunia had disowned the family. It was pure luck that they had found a lovely house in this town that just happened to have the same name as their dead daughter and son-in-law and missing grandson. They considered this to be ironic and chose to live here so that they would not forget their grandsons name.

"Magical status."

"What?" Harry asked. "I was told that there was no discrimination here. That's twice in ten minutes I have been asked for my status. I don't think anyone needs to know that."

"We need to know if you are a Squib or not. Are you Magical?"

"Oh. No, I am not a Squib. Yes I am magical." Harry answered impatiently.

"What's your favourite sports?"

"Soccer, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"So we know what sports you are interested in. Alright your dormitory will be the first year boys, in the Junior wing. Alexander here will show you the way."

The Registrar gave Harry a pile of papers, one of which included a map to the school.

The building was a large five storey building in the shape of a Capital E. The short wings housed the dormitories. One wing was the Junior Wing for Years 1 to 3, the second wing was for Intermediate students from Years 4 to 6 and the final wing was the Seniors wing, for the Years 7 to 10 Students. Each wing had its own common room, study rooms, dining room and kitchen. The children knew each other within their own Wing of the school, but would meet others in various sports activities and in the Great Hall and the Library. The Great Hall, Gymnasium, Library and teachers offices were all along the ground floor of the long section of the E shaped building. Above them were Four levels of classrooms.

Alexander turned out to be Alex Moon, a Squib who was a 3rd Year student. He was the eldest of two children from a Pureblood family, but because he was a Squib, he was unable to attend Hogwarts and so had begged to be allowed to enrol at St Georges. His family lived in Lincolnshire and he had one younger sister who was magical. She was not permitted to attend St George's because the parents were hoping she would be invited to Hogwarts. She was also the current heiress of the Moon family unless he, Alex, had a magical child, who would then become the new Heir. Alex was not terribly worried at losing out on the heirs title and responsibilities. He was just grateful that his parents not dumping him out into the Mundane world. At least now he could get an education and be able to work for the family business.

"What is your family business, if I can ask?" Harry asked.

"Oh, we import wand core and potion ingredients from all over the magical world, and then sell them to wand makers and potions masters, mostly around Britain and Europe. Although of course we are happy to sell to anyone who can afford to buy." Alex grinned.

Harry nodded. Potions and wand making were interesting careers to think about, not that he had to decide right now. After all, he was only eight years old.

Alex lead Harry along to the Juniors wing. On the ground floor he was shown the study rooms, the dining room and kitchen where the elves were hard at work. Then in the large Junior common room, he was shown the stairs that led to the upper levels where the bedrooms were located.

"Year 1 students are all on the first floor. Year 2 on the second floor, Year 3 on the third. The fourth floor has some bedrooms for guests to stay in, and also the school Infirmary. There are roughly 150 students per year from years 1 to 7, then the numbers drop as students leave school after taking their OWLs. Not everyone stays to take their O and A level or NEWT exams. Some students switch to Mundane schools, some gets jobs in the wizarding world, and some switch to other magical schools with more prestige, like Hogwarts and Beauxbatons."

"Is there any information on who started up the Saint schools, and why?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but you will learn that as part of your history and culture classes." Alex replied.

Harry nodded. He could wait.

Alex continued speaking. "The dining room opens at 5 pm for dinner and closes at 8pm. Breakfast is from 6 to 9 in the morning. Classes start at 8 am and run to 12. Lunch is from 12 to 2 pm. Classes also run from 1 to 5 pm. You should get your timetable at Breakfast tomorrow. Classes will start tomorrow as well, so make sure that you are downstairs by 7 AM at least."

Alex and Harry had climbed the steps and Harry was being led down a corridor with many doors. Alex was stopping to check names on each door.

Eventually he stopped outside a door that had the names H Selwyn and N Longbottom.

"This is your room. You are rooming with Neville Longbottom. He's a pretty shy and quiet kid. Keeps to himself mostly. His family seem to think he is a Squib because I haven't seen or heard that he does any magic at all."

Alex opened the door and allow Harry to enter. The room was empty but there was a trunk at the end of one of the beds.

"I see he is already here. You'll have to take the other bed. Your trunk can sit at the end."

"How come you already know this Neville fellow?" Harry asked.

"My family and his are both purebloods and we both move in the same circles within the wizarding world."

Alex showed Harry which wardrobe was his, and where the bathroom was. He then left Harry alone, saying that he had to get back downstairs to help more firsties.

Harry was busy unpacking his clothes from his trunk and placing them in his drawers and wardrobe when he heard a quiet, "Hello?" from behind him.

He turned around to see a short round faced boy, with mousey brown hair and grey eyes, standing in the doorway. There was nothing remarkable looking about this boy at all.

Harry smiled and stuck his hand out to shake.

"Hi. I'm Harry Selwyn, your new roommate."

The other boy shook Harry's hand muttering his name, "Neville Longbottom" as he did so.

Neville was ashamed to be known as a squib. He had been sent to this school just so that his great Uncle Algie and his grandmother did not have to waste their time looking after him anymore. While Neville was not supposed to know this, he had heard his grandmother and Great uncle saying those exact words, several months before being told that he was to be sent away to school.

"Are you magical or a squib?" Neville punched through his shyness to ask the new roommate.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? Yes I am magical. I am also a pureblood but am mundane raised since my parents are dead."

Neville gasped as he entered the bedroom and closed the door.

"How can you be a pureblood and yet be mundane raised?" He asked. "No pureblood would ever allow their child to be mundane raised."

Harry shrugged. "Like I said. My parents died when I was a baby, and I didn't have any control over where I was raised after that."

"Do you know who any of your pureblood grandparents are? Or your godparents? You can petition them to have them be made your guardians." Neville was very curious.

Harry debated whether or not to tell Neville the truth of who he was.

"Who are your godparents, Neville?"

Neville hung his head.

"My godparents are dead. My godmother was Lily Potter. The mother of the Boy who Lived - Harry Potter. Have you heard of him?"

Harry nodded. This was news to him. He had a god-brother of sorts.

Neville continued. "My godfather was Edgar Bones. His sister is Madam Amelia Bones. She is the head of the DMLE, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Lily and Edgar both died in the war against Voldemort back in 1981."

Harry made his decision. He needed a friend, and who better than his roommate and god-brother?

"Sit down Neville. I have something important to tell you, but I need an oath from you, that you will NOT tell anyone else."

"I swear on whatever magic I have, that I will not tell anyone else of those secrets that Harry Selwyn tells me today."

Neville didn't see it, but Harry spotted a very faint glow around Neville's body, which meant that Neville did have some magic. Harry wondered if maybe Neville's magic was bound up like his had been.

"Thanks for that, Neville," Harry whispered referring to Neville's oath.

"OK. I was born Harry James Potter. My mother was Lily Potter nee Evans. My father was of course James Potter. My godfather was Sirius Black. My godmother was Alice Longbottom. I guess she was your mother?"

Neville didn't say anything. He couldn't. He was in shock. His eyes grew round and his mouth fell open.

"Merlin! I was not expecting that. So how can you claim to be a pureblood when everyone knows that Lily Potter was a mundane born?"

"Lily was told by her parents that she was a mundane born because that is how she was raised. She had no reason not to believe that. In fact both of her parents were and are pureblood squibs. They were ejected from the wizarding world as young children like most squibs are. My grandfather even attended this school. My squib grandparents only gained legal custody of me when I was 6 years old. Before then, I was raised by my squib aunt who hated magic. She does not know that her parents were squibs. She only knows that her sister Lily was a mundane born witch."

"So exactly how are your grandparents purebloods?" Neville asked.

"My grandfather was Ivor Selwyn and my grandmother was Rose Fawley. After my father was kicked out, he changed his name to Selwyn Evans and that's why my mothers name was Lily Evans and Evans is of course a mundane name."

Neville nodded his head. "So what does that make us?" he asked.

Harry smiled. "Godbrothers!" he declared.

Neville smiled too. Being an only child meant that he had never had any siblings. Now he had a godbrother.

The boys found comfortable positions on Harry's bed and began swapping likes and dislikes, things they had done and not done and their hopes and ambitions for the future.

Neville told Harry all about his parents lying in the Janus Thickey Long Term Care ward at St Mungos hospital. Harry told Neville about the dreams he was having - where his mother begged for his life and was struck down by a green sickly looking spell.

Neville also told Harry all the troubles he had been having as a squib. How he had never been able to show any magic despite being pushed off the pier at Blackpool and dropped out of a second story window. He had almost drowned at Blackpool, and had been rather badly injured after being tossed out of the window.

Harry gasped. He was horrified. He decide to broach the subject quietly.

"Has anyone mentioned if your magic might be bound? My magic was bound as a child, and once it was released, I felt free. It was just wonderful."

"Who would bind a child's magic? And why?" Neville asked.

"Because if a child is exhibiting a lot of accidental magic, it may be partially bound, but it's not supposed to be permanent."

"You said your magic was unbound? Who does that? When can I be checked? How much does it cost?"

"The Goblins do it at Gringotts. I'll ask my grandparents to take us to Gringotts one weekend or during the holidays."

"I would love to be checked over by the Goblins. If you could arrange this? My gran may not agree though. She is pretty much under the thumb of the head of our house - my great Uncle Algie. He was my grandfathers brother. He took over as Head of house after Grandpa died during the same war that sent my parents to the hospital."

"Can I ask what your parents are being treated for?" Harry asked politely. "It's OK if you don't want to tell me."

"They were sent insane from being under the Cruciatus Curse for more than fifteen minutes. I don't recall seeing this, but I do remember hearing it. I can still hear their screams in my head. Gives me nightmares too. I think I may have been told to hide under the bed or in a cupboard, which is why I didn't see anything."

Harry nodded and then remembered the question he had wanted to ask.

"When is your birthday?"

"July 30th, 1980." Neville replied, "And yours?"

"My real birthday as Harry Potter is July 31st 1980, which makes you one day older than me. My new birthday as Henry Selwyn, is July 1st, 1980, which makes me one month older than you, kind of. We didn't think it would be good for Henry Selwyn to have the same birthday as the Boy who Lived. By the way, I hate that title, and the Chosen one, and the Saviour, and any others you can think of. They are Not me. Noone in the wizarding world even knows me. So who has the right to be using my name in public without my permission? Not me, and not my grandparents. That's for sure." Harry was getting a little hot under the collar as he ranted. Neville could only think of one thing to do, so he wrapped his arms around his new friend and gave him a hug. This calmed Harry right down, and apologised.

At 6 pm Harry and Neville were still chatting as they found their way downstairs to the dining room and had their dinner. They were fast becoming close friends. After dinner they went back to their common room with the instructions to be back in the dining room by 7. 30 AM in order to receive their timetables and to be shown where the classrooms were. They were also told that they could use paper and pen to make notes with, but final home work that was turned in for grading, had to be written on parchment with quills. This was for wizarding subjects which were taught on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students could submit mundane homework using pen and paper. And yes, there would be classes on how to use a quill.

The following morning at breakfast, Harry and Neville received their timetables. Since the boys would not be choosing electives until the 4th year, they would be taking the same classes together for the first 3 years. Well, there was one exception to that rule.

Their time table looked like this

Monday from 9am to 12pm - Herbology, and from 1 to 4pm - Ancient Runes.

Tuesdays from 8.30 to 10am - Maths, from 10.30am to 12pm - English, from 1 to 2.30pm Science, and from 3 to 4.30pm Social Studies

Wednesdays from 9am to 12pm - Potions and from 1 to 4pm - History of Magic

Thursdays from 8.30 to 10am, Latin - from 10.30am to 12pm, French - from 1 to 2.30 pm, Art or Music - and from 3 to 4.30pm Physical Education and Health

Fridays from 9am to 12pm - Arithmancy and 1 to 4pm - Wizarding Culture for mundane born & raised, and Mundane studies for those raised in the wizarding world. This class would be the only class where Harry and Neville would be split up.

"Cool!" exclaimed Neville. "Herbology is my favourite subject. What's yours Henry?"

"Any subjects to do with History actually." Henry replied. "History of Magic, Ancient Runes, and Ancient Studies in particular."

Harry didnt find out about the History of the Saint Schools until the last class on Friday when he was sent to the Wizarding culture class. He was placed in that class because, he had very little knowledge of wizarding culture, and pretty much none of wizarding history. Both classes would learn about the Saint schools, since they covered both worlds.

In their first Herbology class, Neville soon became the teachers favourite since he knew all the right answers, did all the right things with his plants and helped Harry as much as he could.

In the Ancient Runes Class, that afternoon, Harry found that he seemed to have a natural flair for languages and this new alphabet was just a different kind of alphabet. Of course the runes were not put together in a spoken sentence, but more as instructions for magic to act upon. Each rune had several specific properties.

Later in the week when Harry was introduced to potions, he was just as disappointed as his classmates to be told that "We will not be doing any potion making in the first year. " the teacher looked around at the sad faces. He smirked. "You are only eight years old. Potions brewing is somewhat akin to Cooking. Are you allowed to cook for your families?" Everyone shook their heads and brightened up.

"What I will teach you, is how to prepare the ingredients, why we stir in a certain direction at any specific time, and lastly how and why certain ingredients react with others. If you all behave well, and learn this information, we may be able t brew one or two simple potions at the end of the school year. Oh, and you will also be taught how to look after and use your knives in the correct manner. They can be dangerous. This class will have a lot of memorisation in it. The sooner you learn things, the easier it will be for you when it comes to brewing. Enough of the lecture. Let's get on with it."

The teacher pointed to the front table where 5 jars were laid out. "First you have to become familiar with what the ingredients look like. Can anyone name any of the ingredients in those jars?"

It took half an hour, but eventually they were all worked out to be boomslang skin, porcupine quills (those were the first to be identified), dragons blood, flobberworms and ginger root.

"Boomslang skin is one of the rarest ingredients around. Very hard to obtain. Used for polyjuice potions, which is a 6th year potion. You will not be learning how to make that until after your OWLS. Ginger root is of course a spice, and we often use herbs and spices in our potions. The same herbs and spices that mundanes use. Porcupine quills of course come from any Porcupine you can find outside. Flobberworms are nasty little things. They are magical worms and their body juices are a common potion ingredient. You will be cutting up LOTS of these flobber worms during your time here at St George's academy. Dragonsblood, is somewhat hard to get. We don't kill dragons, but their bodies do hold vast amounts of potions and other ingredients. These ingredients are rendered down from dragons after they have died of natural causes or were killed in a battle.

"I will be asking you to learn 5 new potions ingredients every day for most of the first year. But do not fret. We will also be learning how to prepare these ingredients, how and when they are used, how they react with others in certain situations, and so on. As I said earlier, a lot of memorisation will be required. Now let's get to work. Today we will be learning how to slice, dice, and prepare the flobberworms. So please put on your gloves, and take out your knives. No throwing around of any of these ingredients in my class. If I see anything be thrown around by anyone, that person will be given detention."

On Friday, Harry and Neville were directed to different classrooms. Harry to learn more about the Wizarding world, and Neville to learn more about the Mundane world. Not that it mattered for the first class. Both boys received the same lecture. The history of the Saint schools. The reason for this was because the Saint schools covered both worlds.

Some of the children were constantly asking when they could use wands.

"Not until your 4th year." they were repeatedly told. This was why the first three years of classes were kept separate, as much as possible, from the rest of the school. The staff did not wish to encourage any accidents.

Since the Magical world refused to allow children to have access to wands until they reached the age of 11 (or Year 4), only those children who had sufficient magic, were permitted to receive wands. These children were then permitted to drop 2 magical subjects of their choice, and replace them with any 2 wanded subjects of Defence, Charms or Transfiguration.

Harry also learned all about sports and what activities he could do within the Saint schools system.

All of the Saint schools together ran a large sports league with Quidditch, Soccer, Tennis, Running, Basketball and Volleyball Teams. Every sport had three teams, each covering different age groups. Junior teams were children in years 1 to 3, intermediate teams were children in years 4 to 6, and senior teams were those in years 7 to 10.

Since each school team played each of the 5 other schools at least once every year, this meant there were a minimum of 5 matches every year in each sport and for each level. Each sport was therefore playing a total of 15 matches each year, and since there were six sports, that meant that there was a grand total of 75 sports matches being played each year amongst these six schools. This interschool rivalry was purposely kept very friendly, without being allowed to become too competitive. It was not at all unusual for siblings from the same family to be attending different saint schools and therefore be on opposing sports teams.

For those eleven year olds who had attended the Saint schools from the age of 8, almost all of them had turned down their Hogwarts invitations, if they received one. Especially after the news rapidly filtered through all the schools that Hogwarts had no mundane subjects being taught, that Hogwarts did not accept squibs and that there were no sports teams other than Quidditch.

Squibs were more than welcome at the Saint schools. There were only 3 magical subjects that they were unable to participate in - those being the wanded subjects of Defence, Charms and Transfiguration. But they could participate in all the other magical and mundane subjects with no trouble at all. Some squib children did not have sufficient magic to fly a broom, but most of them did, so they could still play Quidditch if they wished. There was nothing preventing these squibs from participating in any of the remaining five sports.

There was one other league that was actively pursued amongst the saints schools as well, this being the game of wizarding chess. Because chess was more of an individual game, there were no teams. Chess players played as many matches as they wished against other players. There was just one Chess leaderboard to cover all the schools. Every chess player started at the bottom, and every time a player won a game against a higher ranked player, the winners name was placed immediately above the player they had just defeated. If any player challenged a higher ranked player and lost, then nothing happened with the player positions. Magic ensured that the leaderboard kept accurate results.

Harry would eventually learn how to fly a broomstick and play wizarding chess at St Georges Academy. It turned out that he was a natural flyer like his father and he would very quickly become a seeker for the junior school Quidditch team. Harry had grown up playing mundane chess against his grandfather on a regular basis and it didn't take him long to adapt to wizarding chess. By the time Harry was 10 years old, his name would be in the top twenty on the school chess leaderboard and he kept it there without too much effort. Harry rarely challenged any of those players ranked above him. He just tended to always defeat those lower ranked players challenging him. He also loved playing Soccer and Volleyball and continued his running as well.

Harry loved his new school. The subjects were interesting. The whole wizarding world was interesting actually. He easily settled down to life as a student of St George's academy.


	5. Chapter 5

History of the Saint Schools

 _A/N - My inspiration for the Saint Schools comes from the schools that were originally created by Radaslab in his stories - 30 Minutes that Changed Everything. The schools locations seem to have been determined by zArkhum and explained in the Authors note at the end of chapter 12 of their story Harry Potter and the Rejected Path. The History of the Saint Schools is MY creation and is all MINE! LOL_

 _A/N 2 - My apologies for the delay, but I was planning to have chapter 5 up last week. Unfortunately, as I was trying to upload, both FFN and my PC went on the fritz and I lost the chapter, Totally. Despite being saved, I still lost it. So I have had to rewrite the whole thing. Fortunately it is now better than it was before. It is also divided into 2 chapters so that the History gets its own chapter._

1876

It began so slowly that Bob Hitchens was not really aware of it. The odd child here and there who was socially inept and unidentified and who acted strange. Bob was hired as a school teacher at a large orphanage in London in 1870, but it was not until 1876 before he finally realised that a trend was not only happening, but was also growing. Every year more and more children of questionable origin were being dropped off at the orphanage.

They all had several things in common. Their clothes were of medieval style, not Victorian. Their names were sometimes quite unusual. They had little to no social skills or cultural knowledge at all. Occasionally if they had money, they had gold coins and not british coins or pound notes. They were not familiar with any of the regular church hymns, nor were they familiar with english literature either. None of them knew who Shakespeare was. They also knew nothing of politics. They did not even recognise any prominent member of the British royal family.

Everytime Bob tried to question these children, they would clam up tight and say nothing. Even if they hadn't known each other before arriving at the orphanage, they certainly came together as a large group of friends, once they were there. How they knew they all had the same things in common so quickly, Bob had no idea.

While most of these children knew how to read and write, they had very little numbers or math skills, and they seemed to know nothing of the late 19th century. They were often unable to use every day objects correctly. Whenever they were given a broom for example, and told to sweep out, the younger ones would place the broom between their legs and then stand there with interesting looks on their faces. Almost as if they expected to fly. They actually had to be shown how to sweep the floors. Bob overheard one specific word being used a lot. That word sounded like "muggle". He had no idea what that meant, but these mysterious children used it a lot. When the kids were becoming frustrated, they never took the Lords name in vain. But they did use the name of Merlin a lot.

Slowly but surely, these strange children learned the skills and knowledge they needed to survive and eventually by the time they were in their mid to late teen years, they could be discharged from the orphanage and allowed to find their own way in the world. But always there were more of these strange children flooding in to replace the ones who had just left.

The orphanage did their best to teach these children a trade. Because most of them could read and write, they usually opted for positions like governesses for the girls and teachers and tutors for the boys. Some of the more ambitious boys tried out for law clerk jobs in the hopes of becoming lawyers.

In the summer of 1878, Bob was taking a walk one sunny day alongside the river Avon in the town of Stratford. He had needed to get away from London for a while, and since he loved reading or watching Shakespeare, he also loved spending time in Stratford. As he was walking this fine day, he was not watching where he was going and he ended up bumping into someone, and worse still, knocking them down. It was a young lady.

"Oh dear." he said. "I am so terribly sorry." Bob held out a hand in order to help the young lady to stand up.

She looked at him with utter loathing and said. "I will not sully myself with the likes of you, you worthless muggle."

Bob was intrigued. There was that word again. He just had to know. "What is a muggle?" he asked.

The lady scoffed. "Why you are of course, and everyone else we can see around here. You who are not - um - I cannot say what you are not, but you are clearly not my kind."

"And what is your kind, as opposed to my kind?" Bob asked with an eyebrow raised. He was intrigued. This was certainly far more than anything the children had ever admitted to.

The woman sighed and continued."Can we just forget about it. Could you also please help me to get up?"

Bob held his hand out again. "Certainly, but only if you tell me the difference between your kind and my kind. As far as I can tell, you and I are both of the homo sapiens race. The human race. We are different from the animals because everyone knows that animals do not speak."

The woman couldn't help herself. "Animals do speak. I've heard humans speaking to snakes." She placed her hand in Bobs hand, and allowed herself to be gently pulled to an upright standing position.

Now that he could see her face closeup, Bob was stunned to see just how beautiful this strange lady was. Her jet black hair was piled up high above a heart shaped face, with clear porcelain skin, deep blue eyes and lips that he wanted to kiss.

Bob had to force himself to stand upright, before he shamed them both by leaning down to kiss her. But he made sure to continue holding her hand.

"So, the difference between your kind and my kind?" he asked.

She hung her head. "I can't tell you, Sir. Not yet anyway."

"Well, how about your name? My name is Robert Hitchens, but I prefer to be called Bob."

"Isla Black." She replied quietly.

"Would you care to take a walk with me? I have a horse and buggy back at the town square. Besides, I have some more questions to ask you."

Isla agreed, and after placing her hand in the crook of his arm, the two slowly headed back to the centre of town.

Bob began talking. "I am a teacher at a somewhat large orphanage in London,. Over the past several years, I have noticed an increasing trend of children who show up around London with sketchy education, names they refuse to reveal and no social or cultural knowledge. You are acting and sounding just like these childern are. I'm wondering if perhaps these children are of your kind, as opposed to my kind? I have heard them use that same word you used. Muggle."

Isla nodded. "If they refer to you as muggles, then yes they are of my kind, And yes I know why they are showing up in London, but I'm afraid I cannot tell you anything more. Not yet anyway."

Bob had a plan. "What I would like to do is to build them a school, just for them. Where they can learn all the things that they should have learned as youngsters growing up. Things like social skills, cultural knowledge, reading, writing and 'rithmetic, and some other subjects such as literature, science, history and geography. Some of these kids have no idea about any other countries outside of the British Isles. But like any other project, I need money to build this school, and to pay the teachers. Is there a reason why your kind are throwing these children away? Why can't they take them back? Why throw them away at all? I think it is a very cruel thing your kind are doing. To be throwing away perfectly good children for some reason I cannot fathom."

Isla sighed. She did agree that a school was a very good idea. She had never liked the idea of the squibs being disowned and ejected, but this had been the practice for centuries and one cannot undo centuries of tradition just because one does not like it. She was also willing to help. "I can get you some money to build your school and perhaps find some teachers, but you will have to find an out of the way place to build this school. I would prefer that the less people who know about this, the better."

"And how long will you continue to not tell me about your society?" Bob frowned.

"There are rules and laws on my side. I am not supposed to be telling you anything. For you to have even guessed this much, is astounding."

Bob stopped to gape at her. "You act as if we "muggles" are dumb and stupid? Is that how we are seen or portrayed?"

Isla could only nod her head.

"So you and your children are raised to think they are superior to us?" Bob huffed. "Well that explains the very snooty attitude you had when we first met. Those kids do not seem to have any attitude like that at all. Instead they are bewildered because they are being laughed at for not fitting in."

"That's because they know they cannot go back. They are not allowed to. And since they don't know how to fit in to your world, they are bewildered."

Bob was smug. "So you are NOT superior to us. You just deliberately choose to act superior, treat us like trained animals, and then pass that attitude down to your children and grandchildren. Well then, please do NOT introduce me to anyone from your world. I don't think I want to be like you at all. I'll just stay out here and continue to rescue and retrain those whom you choose to throw away. I guarantee you, at some point, the descendents of those whom you throw away will return and wreak havoc on your world. An eye for an eye, we call it. And they will probably be willing to wait for as long as they need to, to get their revenge."

They continued walking in silence for a few minutes. Bob liked the silence. It was comfortable and not at all awkward, despite his obvious lack of knowledge of her origins. He suddenly thought of a question.

"Can you go back?" Bob asked.

Isla nodded. "For now I can. But if I do anything that exposes my world, I will be cast out like the children are."

"But are you not exposing your world to me as we speak?"

"I guess I should amend that to, if I do anything that exposes my world en masse..."

Bob nodded.

"Besides, you have guessed a good amount of it, just going on what you learn about the children. And you learn more everytime I open my mouth. But you still don't know WHY we are separate and it has to stay that way. And besides, you are just one person. How are you going to tell anyone or more than one person at a time?"

"I could write an article for the newspaper." But even Bob was shaking his head as he spoke.

Isla nodded. "Yes you could. But you clearly don't like that idea. Why not?"

"Because if the editors don't believe me then the readers are not likely to believe either. Especially without any proof. And you refuse to give me any proof, which is of course your right and clearly your decision."

Upon arriving back at the Stratford town square, Bob unhitched his horse and buggy, and said good evening to Isla as he prepared to return to his hotel.

"Will I see you again?" he asked.

"Maybe" she replied. "Maybe not. I don't really know. Where are you staying?"

Bob gave her the name of his hotel.

"Could I invite you to come and meet the children that I have been talking about and helping?" Bob asked out of desperation.

"I'll let you know. Goodnight." Isla replied as she turned and headed back towards the river.

Isla did not show up the next day. Bob went back to London feeling quite down and depressed. He really wanted to see the young lady again, and he had a huge puzzle to solve. WHAT was so different about those children and why were they being kicked out?

It was not until two months later that Bob finally uncovered the secret. He was in a literature class, and some of the older teenage girls were reading Act four of Macbeth out loud. As they read, their voices got slower and slower until eventually they stopped.

"How do you know this? You are not supposed to know about this!" one teenage girl gasped.

"How long have you known this?" demanded a second girl.

Bob shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone knows. We teach this to all our children around your age. There are thousands of acting troupes that perform these plays. William Shakespeare wrote this particular play, way back in the late 1500s or early 1600s. I think it was first performed in public in the year 1606. So we're looking at close to 300 years now. What do we know that we shouldn't know?"

"How to make the seers potion!

"The seers potion?" Bob asked.

"Yes, it describes all the ingredients and how to make it exactly. And then says exactly how it works. If you want to know what will happen in the near future, this potion will tell you. Oh, this is bad. How many copies of this play are there? We have to get rid of them all."

Bob shook his head. "You won't be able to do that. Far too late for that. There are thousands of copies, probably even millions of copies over the last 300 years. They will be spread all around the world and probably in many other languages too. Was there some rule or law that says you can't tell us muggles about this?"

The girls gasped. "How do you know that word?"

"From you girls. You do whisper quite loudly sometimes." Bob smirked.

"The International Statute of Secrecy was not formally instituted until 1689 and then finally ratified by all countries in 1692. That is when it became the law. If this play was written before 1689, then the author was not breaking the law at that time, because the statute was not yet in place." One of the older teenage girls solemnly intoned the lessons she had been taught as a child.

"Why was this law passed?" Bob asked.

"The Witch hunts and trials of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The Hysteria got so bad that the law had to be enforced. It was already on the books, but had not yet been ratified. It was ratified by the end of that year and then enforced in order to stop the hysteria."

Bob looked down at his copy of Macbeth and finally it sank in. The missing link. The word was staring at him in black and white.

1st Witch, 2nd Witch, 3rd Witch

"You are witches?" He gasped. "You do magic? And you fly around on brooms? And you wear pointy hats?"

The girls nodded after each statement.

"Can you show me" he asked. "Or is that not allowed?"

"Even if we could show you, we cannot. This is why we were forced to leave. We were all born without magic." The same girl who had mentioned the law, spoke up again.

"Born without Spell magic anyway. Some of us are elementals, and some of us have other types of magic that our society does not recognise or accept." Another girl was quite bitter as she spoke.

"That is the big secret that keeps your society hidden away? They can do magic?" Bob's eyes were wide.

The teenagers all nodded.

"Let me get this straight. Your families still insist on disowning all you children who are born with no magic for some as yet unknown reason?" Bob asked, just to clarify things. The girls nodded.

Bob sighed. "I think that is just so cruel. I could never imagine being forced to disown a child of mine just because they don't have something that society demands that they should have."

"You believe us?"

Bob nodded. "Yes I do. and Yes, I promise to keep your secret. But there is one witch I have to find. I met her in Stratford several weeks ago, and she too called me a muggle in a very upper class and posh accent. I told her all about you children. She said she knew why you had been disowned and ejected, but refused to say that one little word - magic - to me."

"Do you know her name?"

"Isla Black."

The children all gasped.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Bob frowned.

The comments came pouring out, tumbling over one another in order to be heard properly. "The Black family are one of the richest and most powerful families in our society. They would never be caught visiting in the muggle world. Unless she was rebelling against her father. Perhaps she has been offered a betrothal contract that she does not want... That could be the reason. You have to find her again. We would love to meet her."

Now that the secret was out, the children relaxed around Bob and began treating him like an older brother. They played pranks on him, but they also took all his lessons to heart and worked hard on trying to blend in with their new society. And every month, two or three new children were found who had been disowned and ejected from the wizarding world. They were all added to the family.

Since the Christmas Holidays were coming up, Bob vowed to return to Stratford in the hopes of seeing Miss Black again. He arrived there on the afternoon of Christmas eve and checked into the same hotel he had used previously.

"Mr Hitchens. There is a message for you. It was left here some weeks ago, but the young lady insisted that we hold it for you no matter how long it took for you to return." Bob took the note, written on thick paper which he thought may have been called parchment, and retired to his bedroom to read it.

 _My Dear Bob Hitchens,_

 _I bet myself that you would not stop looking for the answers._

 _So I placed a recording charm on you so that I could hear you and anyone close to you discussing your kind and my kind. I hope you don't mind. Imagine my shock and surprise when you found the answer in a shakespeare play. I had no idea who shakespeare was, so I promptly came back into the muggle world to buy a shakespeare play. I had to ask the shop keeper, which play had witches in in it._

 _"Oh, that's easy." he said. "That's Macbeth."_

 _I read through Macbeth and to my shock and horror I found the seers potion exactly as your girls described it. But as your girls explained to you, there is nothing we can do since this play was written and performed several decades before the international statute of secrecy came into effect._

 _Now we just need to find out if Shakespeare himself was a wizard, or if he was a squib, or if he had a witch or wizard amongst his family and friends. That is your next mission if you should choose to accept._

 _In the meantime, I am hoping that you will come back to this hotel for Christmas, or Yule as we call it. Now that you know my secret, I no longer need to keep it a secret from you. I will come by the hotel every day from Christmas day to New Years eve. And yes I would love to come back to London to meet your children._

 _Yours_

 _Isla Black._

Bob wrote everything down in his journal. He now added Isla's letter and then locked the journal away for safety.

When Isla came to the hotel on Christmas day, Bob was ready and waiting. He escorted her upstairs to his room, which, while was not exactly the correct behaviour, she agreed to, in order that they could talk privately.

As soon as they were in his room and the door closed, , Isla pulled a stick out from her sleeve and waved it around. "Privacy charms" she said, as Bob raised an eyebrow again.

He was looking at the stick she was waving around. "My wand? Oh yes, This is my wand. This is what allows me to do magic."

The silence between them became somewhat uncomfortable, so unlike the last time they were together.

"Can you please remove that recording charm you placed on me, I dont think you need to be listening in to any more of my discussions." Bob hated having to ask, but this was necessary.

Isla blushed and waved her wand again. "Done. And I am so sorry, but I had no other way of knowing just how far you would go in your search to find out. Even I learnt a lesson. You muggles can and do write about our world. Your imaginations are incredible. Sometimes they are pretty accurate and other times they are quite incorrect.

"In the meantime, after listening to you and your children's discussions I have to agree with you. They need their own school. I will provide the money for you to build it, and I will find the teachers. Most of them will be Squibs - those that don't have magic like your children - but who are trained as teachers. We need all the staff to be those who already know about magic before they join the school. Thus you will not be able to advertise openly. Eventually you will build up a list of contacts amongst the squibs and the muggleborn."

Bob smiled and said "Thank you. Muggleborn?"

"We don't know how or why it is happening, but some children are being born in your world who show signs of accidental magic. They need to be brought into our world in order to be educated and trained to control their magic. Some of our society claim that these children are 'stealing magic' from us. But as I said. I have no idea why muggleborn witches and wizards are being born." Isla frowned.

Bob brightened up. "What science do you learn at your schools?"

Isla cocked her head in that cute way that Bob was fast coming to like very much. "I have never heard of science."

"Science is the study of the world around us. There are lots of different branches, and one of the branches is human anatomy, or the study of the human body. Trying to find out how it was put together, and how it works. Several years ago, a fellow named Mendelev, discovered that that our physical characteristics were carried on something called genes which can be found in every cell of our body. These genes are what gives us our hair color, eye colour, skin colour, how tall or short we are, whether or not we will have certain diseases, and and all other such physical characteristics. It would not surprise me at all if Magic was also expressed by a gene as well. If you have the gene then you have magic. If you don't have the gene, then you dont have magic. That seems to be the way our bodies are made to work.

Isla thought for a short time. "Our healers study human anatomy. Our potions masters must know how and why the potions ingredients react with one another, in order to make potions. And we have herbologists who grow, and study our magical and muggle plants."

Bob translated those into science. "So you study Anatomy, Botany which is the study of plants, and Chemistry, which refers to the reactions between potion ingredients." he paused. "Does anyone do Astronomy?

Isla nodded.

"Well that too is a branch of science as well."

Shortly after, Bob escorted Isla to dinner at a nearby restaurant, where they continued talking. After the Christmas Holidays, Bob returned to London and Isla came to visit him on the weekends.

On the day she came to visit the orphanage, she caused a mini-crisis because most of the older childern recognised her as being a Black and thus they were either curtseying or bowing to her.

"Alright children, enough of that. Gather round please, quietly now." Bob gathered his children around him. "I take it you know who our guest is?"

"Yes, but how did you find her?" a cheeky voice replied. "You ain't supposed to go to their world. You're a muggle."

"Actually I prefer to call myself a mundane. It means the same as a muggle but it's nicer. So from now on, me and my kind will be called mundanes. Capische?"

The kids all nodded.

"As for how we met, she came to this world, and I met her up in Stratford. Shakespeare's home town."

"Did that give you the idea of what you were looking for?"

"No actually, It's totally coincidental that I happened to choose the one play that has witches in it for your lessons. But I'm very glad I did."

The rest of the visit was spent with Isla and the children telling Bob all about their world, both the good things and the bad.

After Isla apparated back to her home, her older brother Phineas began demanding to know where she had been. "You should be spending time with your betrothed, you know." he commented with a sneer. "That is the only way you will be useful to us. Making a new alliance."

"He is not my betrothed. Yes there is a contract, but it is not signed yet and if I have any say, it won't be signed, ever. I hate him, and I will never marry him." Isla replied.

Phineas grabbed her by one arm, gripping her hard enough to leave bruises. "You are Father's property to do with as he pleases. You have no rights as a female and you WILL do as you are told."

He shook her a few times before letting her go. Isla collapsed to the floor. That harsh shaking had left her dizzy and confused. She called for a house elf who popped her to her bedroom, where she slept.

The next morning on waking up, Isla knew she could wait no longer. She had to get the money for the school and she had to leave the wizarding world if she was ever going to keep her freedom.

She knew that she would probably be disowned, but that was far more preferable to being married to someone she hated. Isla packed her bags, visited Gringotts bank and requested that all of the money in her trust vault was to be transferred to a mundane bank account immediately. Her trust vault was then to be closed, permanently. Before leaving the bank, Isla also grabbed some books from the family vault, mostly beginner books that taught the magical subjects, as well as those that taught wizarding etiquette, history, culture and laws.

Once this was done, Isla apparated directly to an alley close to Bob's orphanage in London and told him that she had been forced to leave her home. Isla explained how there was a betrothal contract that would be signed soon. Once it was signed then she would be forced to marry a man she hated, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. If she did marry, she wanted to choose her own spouse. Noone in the wizarding world was good enough for her, so she thought that perhaps she could try the mundane world. Her eyes twinkled as she spoke these last words. Bob was sure she was flirting with him. Not that he minded, He was rapidly falling in love with her as well.

"Oh and I have also got the money to start building your school. I also managed to grab some books so that we can teach some magical subjects to the children." Bob was thrilled with this announcement.

It took Bob and Isla some twelve months to find a large enough building being sold that could be used for a school. They eventually decided not to build from scratch. It was actually cheaper to purchase an existing building and renovate. This former mansion was in Epping forest, some miles north of London, and in a quiet out of the way place. 5 storeys tall, it was shaped like a large capital E, which meant the renovations would actually be much easier to manage. The 3 wings would become the dormitories and living areas and the long part of the E would be all the classrooms and offices.

The school would be accepting children from ages 8 to 18. Squibs as well as muggle, er, mundane borns and any halfbloods who wished to attend. Purebloods would also be welcome, as long as they did not spout their superiority rubbish or try and spread that bigotry. This school was going to place magical children on an even keel so that they would be just as good as those who attended Hogwarts. Isla had attended that fine establishment. Like all those of her family, she had been placed in Slytherin house and been thoroughly miserable. Isla felt that she should have been in Ravenclaw since she loved learning.

Speaking of which, in those same twelve months since she had left the wizarding world, Isla had learnt that yes she was disowned from her family, and could not return, and that her father would kill her for breaking the marriage contract if he ever got his hands on her. Isla was not worried. She and Bob had become even closer in that time, and Bob was on the verge of proposing. He just wanted to get the school into some kind of decent shape ready for opening first.

Already there were whispers going around the muggle borns and the squibs that a new school was being started up. Children of Squibs were more than welcome, no matter if they had magic or not - just so long as they already knew about magic. This school would not have any houses. The school was divided into 3 divisions so that the kids had time to make friends with everyone above and below them in age before they were moved up to a new division. The younger children, ages 8 to 10, who were not yet permitted to have a wand would become the Juniors. The Intermediate years would house the Middle school, those aged 11 to 13 who were just learning how to use their wands. And the senior school would house the older students, who aged 14 to 17 (and 18) who were sitting OWLs, NEWTs as well as any mundane qualifications.

That was another idea Bob was insistant on,. That their school teach both magical and mundane subjects. After all, the squibs could never return to the magical world, but they had the right to learn about their own heritage. Therefore it was decided that the magical subjects would teach them their heritage and the mundane subjects would allow them to choose a career in their new world.

And finally all that was needed was a name for their new school. Isla came up with that one.

'These kids are having to fight against the dragon that is the magical world and they are unable to do so on their own. But as a school, we can be St George, and help these children to slay that dragon, stop the rampant bullying and misinformation of the Magical world, and teach them the truth and teach them to be proud of who they are.' Bob thought that was a wonderful idea so St George's Academy of Magic was registered with the ICW, and not with the Ministry, because they wanted to stay out of Ministry control.

In September of 1885, the first 2 classes were admitted to St Georges Academy. The first class in each of the Junior and Middle Divisions. They would not have anyone doing OWLS and NEWTS just yet, because those children had far too much to catch up on first.

By this time, Bob and Isla were married. Bob was the headmaster of the school. He dealt with the hiring and firing of teachers, of purchasing everything needed for boarding students as well as for teaching them. He also dealt with all the other paperwork that was needed to run a school. Isla taught various magical subjects as they were needed, until the school eventually acquired sufficient teachers for her to be able to stay home with her children. Bob and Isla had 3 children. David Andrew, Robert James and Elizabeth Catherine Hitchens. All were magical and all were halfbloods under the old class system.

This first School, the one named St George, was so successful that the Hitchens eventually decided to open more schools around the United Kingdom that followed their style of education. After 15 years of providing an excellent magical education, they were having to turn away students and felt really bad about that. The demand was huge and more schools were desperately needed. Not just for Squibs who were disowned and ejected from the wizarding world, but for their descendants as well.

So it was decided. Each school was named after the local saint of the area. St Michaels Academy was opened on Dartmoor near Exeter in Devon in 1900, St Davids Academy in the Brecon Beacon Mountains of Wales in 1910, St Edmunds Academy on the Yorkshire Moors in 1920, St Patricks Academy near Cork in southern Ireland in 1930 and the last one, St Andrews Academy near Perth in Scotland in 1940. Together they were all called the Saint Schools.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N - Apologies for the extra long chapter. I did not feel that it was right to stop Sirius's trial right in the middle. So I allowed it to continue to its natural conclusion. This chapter has more than my usual 5000 words. The word count is roughly 6500 words. Also I have placed Azkaban on the island of North Rona in the North Atlantic. I know it's supposed to be in the North Sea, but there are NO islands in the North Sea - not according to all the maps._

Chapter 6

Harry thoroughly enjoyed learning about the History of the Saint schools. He was fascinated with the idea that genes expressed magic. Having already learnt through his genealogy studies, that pretty much all mundane-borns were descended from squibs, and that squibs were always descended from a pureblood house, then the question arose - Why were there not more people with magic?

The answer, Harry soon figured out, was that as long as purebloods insisted on marrying other purebloods, which frequently led to inbreeding, there were always going to be fewer people with magic. The purebloods refused to believe that fresh blood from the mundane-borns or halfbloods would lead to stronger magic for them.

Also the pureblood idea that the mundanes were nothing more than dumb stupid animals was a vastly outdated idea as well.

Human beings thrived on dreams and challenges. Wizards and Witches had no need of dreams and challenges. Because Magic pretty much over rode all challenges and thus they could have anything they wanted, whenever they wanted it. They never had to deal with the consequences of their actions. Anything that was damaged or destroyed could usually be repaired within minutes. If there was anything they wanted, they could just summon the item and not have to worry about saving up to buy it, or just summon it no matter who it belonged to.

Harry thought that having both magic and challenges was a great mix. At this point he didn't have any challenges. He had a great life, and so far things had been going great, knock on wood.

This was to change in the very next History of Magic class.

"Today we are going to learn about the last wizarding war. The one that ended just 7 years ago. And I'm sure we all know how the story goes - that it was ended by a child of all things. Can you believe that?"

The teacher that day was a substitute. He was actually their regular Mundane History teacher, but on this day he was co-opted into taking the History of Magic for the day because the regular History of Magic teacher was off sick with the Wizards Flu. So this replacement teacher only had the regular teachers notes to work from.

"Do any of you know or have any of you been told what happened?" Hands shot up in the air. Harry looked around with interest.

"You!" The teacher pointed to Neville.

"Neville?" thought Harry. "What does he know and why hasn't he told me?"

"My gran told me that Voldemort was killing off all the mundane borns because he didnt want them bringing their new ideas into our world. He wanted us to keep all our traditions. The Mundanes claim we are old fashioned and out dated. Which may be so, but the older generations like their traditions and they claim they have the right to stay that way. Well, at least that's what my gran says." Neville was somewhat mumbling by the time he stopped speaking.

"And what do you think, young man"?" The teacher asked.

"I think we are out of date. Why do we even have the Saint Schools, if we really wanted to keep our traditions. No, we have these schools because of forward thinking witches and mundanes like Isla Black and Bob Hitchens. I love this school!" Neville announced loudly.

The teacher smiled. "He is right in that Voldemort did want to stop the new ideas from flooding the wizarding world. But killing all the mundane borns was not the way to do it. Does anyone know how he was stopped?"

"Harry Potter!" came the unified reply from most of the class.

"Details please. You?" The teacher pointed to another student.

"Noone really knows what happened. What is known, is that Sirius Black, Harry Potters godfather, and the secret keeper for the Potters, told Voldemort where to find the Potters so that he could get into their house and kill them. He tried to kill the baby, Harry Potter, as well, but the Killing curse rebounded off the baby and killed Voldemort instead. Voldemorts body vanished, All that was left was his cloak and wand. Harry Potter also disappeared and no-one knows where he is."

" _Oh yeah, Sirius Black is supposed to my godfather. I don't remember him at all. Is all this stuff about Mr Black true? So where is he and why has he not been around? Must check up on that_." Harry thought. Harry decided to do a little stirring. He raised his hand. The teacher pointed to him.

"How exactly does anyone know what happened when there was noone there to see? The only four people who saw what happened were either dead or they vanished. Mr and Mrs Potter were both killed, and Voldemort and Harry both vanished. There are no other known survivors. Except perhaps the secret keeper. Where was he? So how exactly does anyone know what happened?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore was the first one to arrive at the house. He says he used the magic left behind to determine what happened. And since he is the Chief Warlock of the Wizangamot and the Supreme Mugwump, he is usually always correct. As for Sirius Black, the secret keeper, he has been locked up in Azkaban ever since he was captured several hours after the event." Another classmate responded to Harry's question.

"Do you believe the Headmaster?" Harry asked.

The boy shrugged. "I don't have the means to determine if he is being truthful or not. I'm just a squib."

Harry snorted. "So why don't you use mundane means to find out the truth?"

"And why would I want to do that? They are nothing but dumb animals, ignorant and superstitious. They hate magic!" The squib yelled.

"And there you have it. The mundanes hate magic. That may have been true many centuries ago, But what about now? Have any of you been to the mundane world this year?" Harry asked with a scornful tone.

The teacher interrupted. "We are getting off topic. Children. So back to the Potters. Henry did ask a valid question. Considering all the books that are now being written about Harry Potter, how does anyone know what is the truth of what happened, and what is not? For homework, I would like you to choose a book about how Harry Potter ended the war, read it, and then write no more than 2 pages on why you think that book is telling you the truth. If you dont think it telling the truth, then explain why not. To be submitted in the last class before the Christmas holidays so you have one month. Class Dismissed." His timing was perfect. Right at that moment the school bell rang.

As Harry and Neville walked back to their bedroom, Harry was bursting out with questions. "Why didn't you tell me all this stuff before?" he asked. "What your gran thinks. Why my parents were killed. I keep forgetting that everyone thinks my mother was a mundane born witch. And what is a secret keeper anyway? I need to know more about Sirius Black. Why is he in Azkaban? What happened to him?"

Nevilles response was astounding.

"Oh, like the other fellow said, Sirius Black was captured several hours after those events and sent to Azkaban. I don't know what the exact charges were, but I'm sure you can find out."

"But he was also my godfather. Surely he would want to protect me, rather than kill me? So why?"

"Everyone knows he was a death eater," Neville's tone was definite about that.

"I don't know that! What proof do you have? Did he have that dark mark on his arm"

Neville shrugged. "I don't know. I never knew him."

"And I'm pretty sure noone has even bothered to check either." Once again. Harry's tone of voice was scornful.

Neville was worried. "What's the matter, Harry? Why are you so upset about this? It's over and done with. Noone can do anything about it now."

Harrys voice carried a tone of desperation. In a low whisper he replied. "I need to know the Truth. I was there. And what I remember does not match what was said in that class today." .

Harry finally had a mystery to solve.

He borrowed several books from the Library. They included Great Wizards of the 20th Century, History of Magic, Hogwarts a History, Notable Magical Names of our Times, Great Wizarding Events of the 20th century and Modern Magical History.

After reading the relevant sections, in all the books, Harry was left with more questions. Being a Godfather meant that Sirius would have had to go through a ceremony in which he swore an oath of loyalty on his magic and his life, to the child who would be his godson, namely Harry. Once he had sworn that oath, he was literally unable to kill Harry or cause the boy any harm. And allowing Voldemort into the house to kill his parents would definitely cause the boy harm. So if Sirius really did break his oath, he should have died that same night. He did not, since he was picked up by aurors several hours later. Therefore the logical answer was that Sirius did not lead Voldemort to the house. Someone else did. The new question was who?

While Harry had been reading about that Halloween night, there had been vague references to something called the Marauders. When he delved back into Hogwarts a History, he discovered that the Marauders were a group of Gryffindors at Hogwarts during the 1970s, who pranked and bullied the other students. Their names were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Lily Evans was also thought to be part of the group, purely because she later married James.

Harry decided to investigate all five members, even if two of them were his parents.

James, Lily and Sirius came up pretty clean. Harry could not find any major discrepancies about them or their lives.

The other two however had major problems with their stories.

Peter Pettigrew was said to have been killed by Sirius Black along with twelve Mundanes. The bodies of all the mundanes were accounted for, but there was no body for Pettigrew apart from one finger.

Even as a nine year old, Harry watched a fair amount of TV. His favourite shows were police and detective stories, because then he could try and work out who had done the crime before the main character did in one hour, or by the end of the movie. Harry also loved reading detective and mystery books for the same reason. His most favourite detectives were Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

So for Harry to believe that one finger of a missing body proved that the body was dead, was just not logical. There are hundreds if not thousands of people in the world who have missing fingers, missing hands, missing arms even, and who still survive and live a good life. Ergo Peter Pettigrew was not dead - well he was not killed by Sirius in 1981. The new questions were, how did Pettigrew escape and where was he now?

Leaving those questions for now, Harry turned to the last member of the Marauders group. Remus Lupin. He had been at Hogwarts with the others, had some mysterious illness that meant he missed a few classes once a month, and had not held any steady jobs in the wizarding world in the 3 years between finishing school in 1978, and that tragic Halloween in 1981. He had not been seen for the last 8 years.

All four Marauders were Purebloods. As far as anyone knew. None of them supposedly had any knowledge of or experience in the mundane world at all. Lily however was an expert in the mundane world since that was all she knew for the first 11 years of her life. She could easily have taken the young men to the Mundane world on a regular basis. Perhaps to the movies or to the shops. Harry had been raised knowing that there was a lot more variety of consumer items available in the mundane world than in the wizarding world.

Harry decided to send letters to both men. This would be done by owl since he had no idea of their current whereabouts. But he would have to wait until the upcoming holidays. In the meantime, he was wanting to ask Neville, if his friend would like to spend the holidays with him. He would use the enticement that perhaps they may go to Gringotts and get those blocks removed.

Neville agreed and wrote to his grandmother. She wrote back asking questions about Harry's family, their names and blood status. The Evans were Mundane born, and this was the response sent back. Their pureblood status would be kept a secret for now. Mrs Longbottom wrote back and agreed that Neville could stay with his friend Henry for the holidays. They very carefully made sure that Nevilles gran had no idea about their plans to go to Gringotts. The boys were both very excited.

Harry turned to his History assignment. To read a book about Harry Potter and determine if he thought the book was being truthful or not. He chose a book called The-Boy-Who-Lived, The story of Harry Potter.

This book had pretty much the standard story. Harry snorted as he read the book. It did not take him long to write his essay.

 _I read the book called The Boy Who Lived, The story of Harry Potter. It tells the same story as all of the other books. But there are a few things that do not make any sense. The statement that "Everyone knows that Sirius Black was the secret keeper." Why does everyone know this? Because everyone knows that Sirius was James Potters best friend. There are 2 things that contradict that statement._

 _Firstly, Sirius Black was Harry Potters Godfather. And as such he would have sworn an oath of loyalty on his life and his magic, to not harm the boy and to not allow any harm to come to the boy. As a godfather, if Sirius broke this oath, he would have died. Since Sirius did not die on the night in question after Harry's parents were killed, as was evident of his capture several hours later, then Sirius could not have been the person to lead Lord Voldemort to the Potters home. He did not cause any harm to come to his godson. Therefore someone else was the secret keeper. There were two other people in James Potters group of friends. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. I think one of these two was the real secret keeper._

 _The second thing that contradicts that the statement that everyone knows that Sirius Black was the secret keeper was that Sirius was supposed to be the top lieutenant for Lord Voldemort. Has anyone checked Sirius Blacks arm for the dark mark? The man is locked up in Azkaban. It would be a simple thing for the warden to go down to his cell and check the mans arms. If there is no dark mark, then the man is not a death eater._

 _And one last thing. When Sirius Black was captured several hours after the events of Halloween, He was standing amongst the victims of a gas pipe explosion. There were 12 Mundane bodies and no body of Peter Pettigrew. Sirius claimed that he was chasing after Peter Pettigrew who had been the cause of the Potters death. But everyone knows that Sirius Black was only trying to blame someone else when everyone knows that it was Sirius Black who allowed the Potters to be killed. Only Pettigrews finger was ever found._

 _Thousands of mundane people can and do survive perfectly well with a missing finger. So my theory is that Peter Pettigrew deliberately cut off his finger, survived that explosion somehow, and is the most likely candidate to be the secret keeper. I don't know where he is, but he probably has the dark mark on his arm. He was a reclusive man. Not much is known about him - which makes sense if you have to hide the fact that you are a Death Eater from your friends._

 _Was Sirius Black ever given a trial? Is there a trial transcript? Why is that not a matter of public record?_

 _What about the Potters wills? Who did they wish to have raise Harry if they should die? Why was their will not read out in public? Why were their wishes not followed?_

 _Headmaster Dumbledore assures the wizarding world that Harry is in a loving family home and is safe and happy. But he offers no proof. The fact is that noone knows where Harry Potter is. He could be dead for all we know._

 _There are still far too many questions about this story, and there is NO proof or evidence of any of the conclusions. So to me this story is totally wrong and we must look elsewhere to find the real story and the proof. Including giving Sirius Black a trial._

In the last History of Magic class, before the end of term, the Substitute teacher came into the History of Magic classroom and collected the essays. He would read these over the holidays and give the grades to the regular teacher when school was back in session.

Neville and Harry packed up a few clothes in preparation for taking a portkey to Harry's home for the Yuletide and Christmas Holidays. They would be celebrating both as the Evans had been doing even after they were entered the Mundane world.

The Yuletide celebration is always held on the winter solstice, usually around December 21st or 22nd. The Evans kept the celebration quiet but they did still celebrate it as was their custom. They always put up and decorated a Yule tide tree. Harry and Neville both helped with the decoration this year.

The day after the equinox, Harry, Neville and Mr Evans traveled to Gringotts Bank and asked the goblins to have a look at Neville and see if he had any blocks. Neville gave a few drops of blood for an inheritance test and sure enough, he was found to have several blocks. Harry offered to pay to have Neville's blocks released. Neville spent most of the day in pain as the blocks were removed and his magic was finally able to be free. It went lashing around the room. Neville had to be taught some meditation skills to bring his magic back under his control.

Eventually he was released from the Goblins care and allowed to return to the Evans home. The reminder of the holidays were pretty quiet.

In the meantime, the substitute history teacher, whose name was William Black, read all the essays from his class, and was most intrigued by the essay written by Henry Selwyn. It asked a lot of questions that noone seemed to have asked, and made some logical conclusions that really could not be refuted.

So William made an appointment to see Madam Bones, the new Director of the DMLE, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This was the Auror or Magical Police Department.

Madam Bones had never spoken to William Black before. So she was intrigued when he entered her office. Was he related to the Black family? This was the first question she asked.

"Actually I am descended from the Squib known as Marius Black who was disowned and cast out from the family. He was my grandfather. We were raised as Mundanes. My older sister is a mundane born witch so I have known about magic since I was 9 years old. I guess you could call me a Squib as well. Anyway, I came here to speak to you about Sirius Black.

"I am a history teacher at one of the magical day schools in London. One of my recent assignments for my students was to read a book about Harry Potter and write an essay saying why they thought the story that everyone knows, is true or not. Most of my students are squibs of pureblood origins. They all accepted the story. But I had one mundane born child who stated that the evidence was insufficient to prove that Sirius Black did the crime. So I was wondering if maybe you could read this and determine that your Department actually did everything and followed correct procedure in order to find the truth?"

William handed over a copy of Henry's essay. It did not take long for Amelia to read it, but she shocked at some of the procedures that appeared to have been skipped.

"Leave this with me, and I'll take a closer look at the procedures that were used." she said. William was ushered out of the office and he returned home.

The first thing that Madam Bones did was to go down to the Archives Department looking for the Trial Transcript for Sirius Black. She did not remember reading anything about a trial but assumed like most people that the trial had been a closed one and done quickly in order to close the case. When she found the folder for Sirius Black, she had expected it to be thick and bulging with trial transcripts and evidence. Instead it was very thin. Too thin. Amelia was suspicious. When she opened the folder she found 3 pieces of parchment inside.

The first parchment was the "confession" by Sirius Black when he was captured. "It was my fault. I killed them. It was my fault. I killed them." That sounded more like as man in shock than a proper confession. What about the veritaserum transcript? Was there one of those? Amelia could not find one.

The second parchment was the interrogation transcript back at the Ministry office. "Were you the Potters Secret keeper?" Sirius kept denying this. "Why did you go to the Potters home then?" "Because my bond to Harry was telling me that he was in trouble. By the time I got to the house, James and Lily were already dead. I killed them. It is all my fault."

The third parchment was the record of transfer for Sirius Black to Azkaban on the same day he was captured. There was no trial transcript to be found.

Director Bones was furious. No trial was held? Why not? And as the essay had mentioned, why did noone think to check Blacks arms for the dark mark while he was being interrogated!

She decided that she would have to go to Azkaban and check Blacks arms for herself and question him under veritaserum, but that could wait until after Christmas.

Three days later Director Bones and two senior Aurors in whom she trusted, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Gawain Robards, portkeyed to Cape Wrath near Durness in Northern Scotland, from which they embarked on a small boat for the 6 hour journey to the island of Azkaban.

Upon their arrival, the Warden settled his visitors down in his office and bombarded them with questions. He was starved for company. Madam Bones allowed the aurors 5 minutes to catch the Warden up with events back home, and then cut short the conversation.

"OK that's enough. Sorry to cut this short Warden, but we are here for a specific reason. It has been brought to my attention that one of your prisoners may not have been given all the legal protection he was entitled to under our laws. Basically, I am here to determine if he received a trial or not."

The Aurors were shocked, as was the warden.

"A prisoner here without a trial? But that is absurd. They are all guilty or they would not be here." The warden shouted. He did not want to learn that there was a prisoner here that had not had a trial because that reflected somewhat poorly on him. "Who is the prisoner?"

"Aurors, you are under oath to NOT reveal this information to ANYONE, not your families, not your colleagues and certainly NOT the media. Is that understood?" Amelia cautioned her Aurors. They both nodded.

"Sirius Black." She intoned.

"Liar!" This was the first word out of the wardens mouth.

Amelia Bones stood and took one step closer to the warden. "Are you calling me, the director of the DMLE, a liar?" she demanded.

He could only nod his head.

Amelia sat down again. She was once again, cool calm and collected. "Warden. What proof do you have that Sirius Black was given a trial? Because I cannot find any records of a trial."

"Um. Headmaster Dumbledore said that Sirius was convicted and found guilty so he must have had a trial, mustn't he?"

"So you have no proof. Have you spoken to Sirius Black at any time in the last 7 years?"

The Warden shook his head.

"And why not?" Amelia asked.

"I don't like going down to the high security cells. They are so dark and damp, and the prisoners down there are insane."

"Well, then, let's put your theory to the test shall we?" Amelia purred. This was when she was at her most dangerous. "If you are right and Black has indeed received a trial, then you can get to come home today with us, and I will get a new warden. If however you have lied and Sirius has not had a trial, then you get to stay here as the warden for another 2 years. So I want you to call your guards and have them escort Sirius Black to the conference room, NOW."

Twenty minutes later a black blob of stinking rags, with clanking chains, and long dark hair that had never been washed, was hauled into the room and dumped on the floor.

Amelia sat patiently and waited. Eventually the head of dirty hair lifted up and a voice asked, "Where am I? "

"You are in the conference room of Azkaban Prison. I am Madam Amelia Bones, the Director of the DMLE. Some information has crossed my desk that seems to indicate that you did not have a trial and that you are not a death eater and that you were not the Potters secret keeper. I am here to determine the truth."

"About time too." The voice was getting stronger now. "I sure hope you brought some veritaserum with you, and some LOYAL witnesses. I cannot wait to get off this damn stinking island." Amelia said nothing and continued to wait patiently. Eventually Sirius Black was able to sit up and lean against the wall. Amelia asked him if he wanted to sit in a chair. "No thanks. I'm OK down here. At least this is a lot cleaner than my cell. So what information do you have? What do you need from me?"

"Your arms please. First I need to verify that you are or are not a death eater."

Sirius dragged up the sleeves of his dirty robes and bared his arms. Amelia and both aurors could see no sign of any dark mark on either arm. "So, you are not a death eater?" She asked, just to confirm.

"Heck no. I would never join that pond scum. Who said I was a Death Eater?" Sirius scowled.

"That doesn't matter anymore. You clearly are not marked. So the chances are less likely that you are the one who lead You-Know-Who to the Potters House."

"I did not, and I have been telling that to the Ministry for 7 years. Do you have veritaserum? Can you ask me now, with veritaserum?" Sirius's grey eyes stared at the Director. She stared back. Amelia knew how to read eyes, and these eyes were telling the truth.

She nodded and KIngsley placed 3 drops of veritaserum onto Sirius Blacks tongue. His eyes glazed over and the questions began. Robards was taking notes.

"What is your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black"

"Were you the secret keeper for the Potters on the night of Halloween in 1981?"

"No."

That drew a gasp from the Aurors. Amelia frowned at them to stay quiet.

"Who was the secret keeper on that night?"

"Peter Pettigrew"

"Were you ever the secret keeper for the Potters?"

"Yes. I was the secret keeper since January of that year while they were in hiding. It was changed from me to Peter on October 20th, 1981."

"Whose idea was it to change the secret keeper?"

"Mine - I think. Possibly Peter's idea. I'm not sure. Someone could have suggested it to me."

"Why would you change the secret keeper?"

"Because if I was ever captured and tortured, and everyone KNOWS I was the Potters best friend, then I could be made to give the secret up. It would be better if the secret keeper was someone who was not so well known and therefore less likely to be captured."

"Whose idea was it to use Pettigrew as the secret keeper?"

"As far as I know, that was his idea."

"What do you mean, as far as you know."

"The damn rat was not usually capable of thinking up ideas like that. I think someone suggested the idea to him. But I don't know who." There a note of anguish in Blacks voice as he answered.

"What do you mean, damn rat."

"That was Pettigrews animagus form. A grey rat."

"Was he registered?"

"No. None of us were registered."

"None of who were registered?"

"The Marauders. Me, Potter and Pettigrew. We were all Animagi but none of us were registered with the Ministry."

"What about Lupin?"

"Being a werewolf, he was unable to become an animagus."

"What were the animagus forms for you and Potter?"

"I am a grim, and James was a stag with a huge head of antlers."

"Can you show me?"

"Now?"

"Yes."

Seconds later there was a large black shaggy grim sitting on its haunches on the floor. Amelia studied the dog for a few seconds and then indicated that he could return to human form.

"Is this how you are surviving your time in here? You are remarkably sane for someone who has been here for 7 years." Amelia was curious.

"Yes. The dementors don't bother me when I am a grim. The second reason is that as a grim I am a lot warmer with all the doggy fur."

"Did you have a trial?"

"No. I went from the interrogation cells at the Ministry straight to my cell here at Azkaban. I believe I was stunned at some point"

"OK, That's enough. We can stop now." Amelia spoke. "But I do have more questions to ask later. In the meantime, I think we need to get you back to London and get you a trial. You have not had one at all and you are certainly entitled to have one."

There was a huge grin on Blacks face as Amelia spoke. He was finally getting out of this hell hole.

Back in the wardens office, the warden was being lambasted good and proper by Director Bones.

"So Warden, you have lied to me. Sirius Black says he has not had a trial, therefore he is NOT convicted and as yet, is not guilty. My punishment is for you to stay in this office for another two years! Let that be a lesson to NOT lie to me or anyone from the ministry ever again. Do you understand?"

The Warden was devastated. His 2 year contract was due to expire in just a few weeks and he had been looking forward to going home. Now he was stuck here for another 2 years. He wished like Hades that he had kept his mouth shut.

Sirius was allowed to have a shower and was dressed in some clean clothes from the box of clothes collected from incoming prisoners. He, Director Bones and the 2 Aurors settled into the boat for the long ride back to the mainland.

Once back in London Sirius was settled into a clean ministry cell, and was now able to receive 3 decent meals a day. Director Bones was determined to get him his trial ASAP. Sirius didn't mind being locked up, as long as the end result was a trial for him.

Bones had to do this quickly and quietly, and preferably without Dumbledore becoming aware. Fortunately Minister Fudge was muttering that Dumbledore would be absent the following week on ICW business. That was the perfect time to hold a trial.

One week later after making sure that Dumbledore had left the country, and gone to Europe, Director Bones called an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot in order to make right what had gone wrong.

Dempster Wiggleswade was called in to be Sirius Blacks' Defence counsel. The two were very happy to see each other again.

Augusta Longbottom was persuaded to act as Temporary Chief Witch since Dumbledore was absent.

All members of the Wizengamot were sitting in their seats. Sirius joined them as his seat arose out of the floor. He was chained to the chair but wearing clean clothes and his hair was washed and neatly tied back. His lawyer was standing behind him in support.

As soon as everyone could see who the prisoner was, the murmuring began. Eventually it became rather loud and certain comments began to be heard.

"Murdering scum."

"Deatheater scum."

"You killed the Potters."

"You killed 12 Muggles."

"You should have been kissed."

"You've already had a trial. Why are you getting another one?"

The gavel slammed down and Mrs Longbottoms loud strident voice could be heard in all corners of the large room. "QUIET!"

"First things first." She said. "Mr Black. Are you a death eater?"

"No."

"What proof do you have?"

Sirius said nothing as he rolled up both of his sleeves and bared both of his forearms to the public's view. They gasped to see NO Mark at all.

The Chief Witch voiced his actions. "Mr Black has rolled up his sleeves. He has NO Dark Mark on either of his arms. He is NOT a death eater."

"Mr Black. Were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters on the night of Halloween 1981."

"No"

The public gasped again. They had been told over and over again that he was the secret keeper so this must be a lie.

"Mr Black. Everyone knows you were the secret keeper. So how can it be that you claim to not be the secret keeper now?"

"I was the secret keeper for the Potters from January 1981 to October 20, 1981. Therefore it is true when they say that everyone knows I was the secret keeper. However I was NOT the secret keeper on the night of Halloween October 31st, 1981."

"Who was the secret keeper on that night?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

Another gasp from the public.

"Why was the secret keeper changed from you to Pettigrew?"

"Two reasons, the first was that I may have been drunk, and therefore was unable to fight harder to not make the change. The second was that Pettigrew was adamant that it be changed just in case I was captured and tortured into giving up the secret. After all, I was well known and it would be easy for anyone to capture me. If some unknown person was made the secret keeper, then there was less chance for that person to be captured. James and Lily were persuaded to make the change. They had the final decision. I told them not to do it, but they refused to listen to me. They did it anyway. They made Peter Pettigrew the secret keeper and 10 days later he lead Voldemort to the Potters house, where they were killed."

"What happened on that night, Mr Black?"

"I am Harry Potters Godfather. I have a bond with the boy. On the night in question I could feel that Harry was upset, so I apparated to the house and ran inside. I found James on the floor. He was dead. I found Lily upstairs in the nursery. She too was dead. And Harry was in his crib, crying and screaming for his mama. There was also a wand and an old cloak on the floor, but I left them there, and picked up Harry. As his godfather I needed to take him to safety.

"When I got outside of the house, Hagrid was there. He told me to give Harry to him so that he could take Harry back to Hogwarts for Poppy Pomfrey the mediwitch, to look him over. He did have a nasty looking cut on his forehead, so I stupidly agreed. But I told Hagrid that I wanted Harry back in my care within 24 hours. He agreed.

"Since I did not have to worry about Harry for the time being, I took off to go after Pettigrew. It took me several hours but I eventually tracked him down to a street in Manchester. There I confronted him. But before I could speak, he began accusing me of killing the Potters. The Aurors showed up a few minutes later. He told the Aurors that I killed the Potters because everyone knew that I was the secret keeper. Noone knew about the changeover. He had his wand behind his back and he blasted a hole in the street. This blast hit a gas line and there was a rather spectacular explosion. Several muggles died, but Pettigrew escaped. He changed into his animagus form, which is a grey rat and escaped into the sewers. I was in shock at Pettigrews actions, and I was mad at myself for not being stronger and refusing to change the secret keeper. I was arrested by the aurors just seconds later.

"I was interrogated at the Ministry and then sometime during the night I was probably stunned and sent to Azkaban where I woke up in my cell. I did not have any trial at all. I have not seen my godson Harry since that day. The fact that I am still alive means that I was not the one to cause any harm to Harry on that night."

Sirius stopped speaking and sat still. His lawyer sitting behind him, squeezed his shoulder in a show of support.

The chief witch, the Wizangemot members and the public were all stunned into silence and seemingly in shock.

The chief witch eventually recovered and asked the Wizengamot members to make a decision.

Eventually they came back with their decision.

Innocent of all charges. Compensation of G100,000 for each of the 7 years he was in Azkaban. Mr Black was now free to go and take up his life again. There would be a special edition of the Daily Prophet rushed out that very evening to make the announcement.


	7. Chapter 7

Fallout, Chapter 7

As Sirius and his lawyer walked out of the Wizengamot courtroom, he was surrounded by members of the press. Questions were flying from all directions. The lawyer leaned over to speak directly into his ear. "I suggest we do an impromptu press conference, but dont give any details. Just answer the question and dont volunteer anything. Any questions you dont want to answer, say No Comment."

Sirius nodded and announced that he would not be answering any questions right now, because he had to get to the bank and get his life back into some kind of order. However, he would be happy to see everyone at 4 pm this afternoon at the Leaky Cauldron where he would be happy to answer some questions.

The press vultures departed and Sirius went back to the lawyers office. "Do you by any chance happen to know where Harry Potter is?" he asked.

"Actually I do, but as he is also one of my clients I must keep his current location confidential until I can contact him or his guardians and ask if they want to meet with you. Let me tell you this though. He won't be living with you. Harry has very nice guardians with whom he lives and he will not have any interest in leaving them. If you want to be in his life, it will be as his godfather only, or perhaps a favourite uncle. So get used to it, OK? Besides, the boy is already in a boarding school, so you won't see much of him during the year except during Christmas and Summer holidays. "

"Please tell me that he is not at Hogwarts? He is only 8 years old. Hogwarts don't take kids that young."

"No, Not Hogwarts. But I can't tell you where he is without his permission. Lawyer-client privilege, you know."

Sirius nodded. He was sad that Harry would not be living with him, but he would accept whatever relationship Harry wanted.

Sirius took his leave and headed for Gringotts bank. Once inside the bank he asked for the Black family account manager, only to be told that there was no such manager.

"The Black vaults are currently frozen and as such, they don't need a manager." the teller sneered.

Sirius knew exactly how to deal with such arrogant goblins. "Well since I believe I am now Lord Black and I am now out of prison, I expect to be able to see the Black vaults so you will find someone to be made the new Black family manger NOW or I will pull ALL the Black money out of Gringotts and find another bank."

That certainly did the trick and 5 minutes later, Sirius was meeting with his new manager, who went by the name of Bloodaxe. Since the vaults were frozen, no interest had been earned for the last 7 years. So really, all that Bloodaxe could do was to reset all the Black vaults status from frozen to active. Which he did.

That being done. Sirius also took up the Black head of house ring which he previously had not been able to hold while his grandfather was still alive. But upon being told that his grandfather Arcturus had died in 1987, Sirius was now the Head of House Black.

Now he had to decide on a place to live. He was not looking forward to seeing the Black family manor in London. But he had no access to any other Black properties so he apparated to Grimauld Place. Number 12 was in full view of anyone in the street. The fidelius charm had obviously worn off. The grass in the front yard was 2 feet tall and the house itself clearly had not been looked after. Sirius went up to the door and was surprised to be allowed in when he placed his hand on the door handle.

Closing the door behind him, Sirius shouted the name of the House elf who should have been looking after the home.

"Kreacher?"

Nothing happened. No elf popped into view.

"Any Black family elves?" he said out loud.

Still nothing. No elves showed up.

Sirius made his way upstairs to the library, and banged around looking for the ward books. He needed to reset the wards and the fidelius charm in order to hide the house again.

Locating the ward books on their small special shelf in the library, Sirius opened the notebook to the last used pages. The first thing he did was cross off the names of Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew. As for Remus Lupin. He'd have to talk to the man before making a decision. Sirius now also added the name of Harry Potter to the wards.

Sirius was also hungry so for now he would need to actually go out and get food. After locking the door behind him, and walking a short distance to the park, Sirius apparated to Diagon Alley in the hopes of finding food. But even as he walked the length of Diagon Alley, looking for a place to eat, the news hit the fan. Someone gasped when they saw him, and yelled, "Mum, Look. The man in the newspaper."

Sirius managed to buy a Daily Prophet in order to see what it said.

 _SIRIUS BLACK FREE. BLACK NOT THE SECRET KEEPER AND NOT A DEATH EATER!_

 _Today a trial was held for Sirius Black whom we have all thought of as a murderer. Well it turns out that we were wrong._

 _The first thing that Madam Chief Witch Longbottom demanded to know was, if Black was a death eater._

 _He said NO, amid gasps from the public. Prove it, replied Madam Longbottom._

 _Black simply rolled up his sleeves and held his bare arms out for everyone to see._

 _Ladies and Gentlemen, there is NO Dark Mark on Sirius Blacks arms._

 _The next question from Madam Longbottom was, Were you the secret Keeper on the night of Halloween 1981._

 _And again Black said No. This was followed by more gasps from the public._

 _Since we all know that Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper, Madam Longbottom then asked how was it that he was not the secret keeper on that night._

 _Because the Potters were persuaded to change it from Sirius Black to another friend named Peter Pettigrew. Black did not agree with this change and tried to stop it, but the final choice was always the Potters decision to make. So the Secret Keeper was changed from Black to Pettigrew on October 20, 1981, and 10 days later Pettigrew lead He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to the Potters House._

 _We did of course all know that Sirius Black was the Godfather of young Harry Potter. What we did not know was that the oath Black took on the night he became Harry's godfather, actually prevents him from harming the boy or causing any harm to come to the boy. Leading He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to the family house to kill his parents would certainly cause harm to the boy._

 _Black said he apparated to the house that night because he could feel that Harry was upset through the bond they share. By the time Black arrived, it was too late. Both James and Lily Potter were dead. As the boys godfather, he has the right of custody so he was exiting the house with young Harry in his arms when he was told by Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts, that Headmaster Dumbledore insisted that Harry be taken to the school to be checked over by Madam Pomfrey, the mediwitch. Young Harry did have a rather nasty scar on his forehead. Sirius agreed provided Harry was back in his care within 24 hours. He has not seen the boy since that night._

 _Black went after Pettigrew and found him in Manchester. Pettigrew blew up the street, blowing up a gas line which killed 12 muggles. Pettigrew used that confusion to cut off his finger and escape into the sewers. His animagus form is that of a grey rat, which would now have one toe missing._

 _Black was arrested for the supposed killing of the 12 muggles as well the supposed deaths of Pettigrew and the Potters, just a short time later._

 _Black has now been declared innocent, and is now free to live his life in peace._

 _It is imperative that we now find Peter Pettigrew and see what he has to say._

Sirius was quite pleased with the article. It told the facts succinctly and accurately.

At 4 pm he was at the Leaky cauldron ready to meet the press. They gathered around him with quills at the ready.

"I would like to make a statement. I will not be taking any questions. Now that the report of my trial is part of the public record, you may refer to the article in todays Daily Prophet for your information. It is a true and accurate statement of my trial that was held this morning. I bid you all good day."

Sirius left the Leaky Cauldron leaving behind some unhappy journalists.

After having some dinner, and buying some food to restock his cupboards, Sirius apparated home.

Sirius knew that he would have to deal with Dumbledore eventually.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

Because it was still the Yule tide holidays when the trial occurred, Harry and Neville both read the article at the Evans home that evening.

"What will happen if we meet?" Harry asked. "Do I have to live with him. It says he had custody of me. I do not want to leave you at all." Harry was getting upset and tears could be seen threatening to fall.

Grandpa Selwyn agreed to contact the lawyer in the morning so that the lawyers could talk and come to some arrangement.

Just then the floo opened and Dempster Wiggleswade was right there asking to come through.

"Yes, of course you can. We were just talking about you and this Sirius Black fellow." Grandpa said.

The Lawyer entered their home, wiping the soot off his clothes. "That is exactly why I am here. I was Blacks defence lawyer at the trial and he asked me when or if he could meet Harry. I told him that Harry was already settled with a family and was not in any hurry to move to a new home. I also told Black that he may have to settle for being just a godfather or perhaps a favourite Uncle, but that was all. At least that would be better than nothing. I told Black that I would arrange a meeting. So when do you think you want to meet your godfather, Harry?"

"Could we do this at your office, perhaps in 2 days time, on New Years Eve. I would also like to have the Selwyns and Neville with me, as well as you, in case he tries any funny business."

"Certainly. I'll make the arrangements. Would 12 noon be an acceptable time?"

"Yes thank you." replied Harry.

The lawyer flooed back to his office. Harry settled down and was much calmer now that arrangements had been made and expectations identified.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

Meanwhile down in the wizarding village of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon, the Weasley family were in shock. They had a grey rat as a family pet, with a toe missing and the rat had been with them for 7 years. Was their rat this same Peter Pettigrew? The two older sons, Charlie and Bill, stunned the rat and took it to the DMLE asking to speak to Director Bones.

They showed her the rat with its missing toe and asked her to check if it was an animagus or not.

She waved her wand, and was shocked to discover, that yes indeed, the rat was an animagus. She forced the rat back into human form and then tied him up with ropes. The man had magic inhibiting and animagus inhibiting cuffs placed around his wrists. The first thing Amelia did was to check his arms. Sure enough the dark mark could be seen on the left forearm. He was levitated to a Ministry cell where he would be questioned in the morning.

Bill and Charlie went home with the news. Young Percy was not at all happy to have lost his pet rat!

The news of Pettigrew's capture would not be released until after he was interrogated the following morning.

Early the next morning, Amelia floo called Sirius asking him to come in and identify the rat. Sirius was shocked that he had been found so quickly. So early the next morning, the day after his trial and release, Sirius Black was back at the Ministry to identify a prisoner.

Sirius found himself in a room with Amelia, as well as same two aurors who had accompanied the Director to Azkaban earlier that month. The prisoner was brought into the room already under a body bind.

Sirius recognised him instantly. "Yes. That is Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail aka the secret keeper aka the betrayer. Does he have the dark mark? Where has he been?"

"He has been living as a pet rat with a wizarding family for the last 7 years. They turned him in when his missing toe was mentioned in the Daily Prophet." Amelia explained. "And yes he clearly does have the dark mark."

"Well he is here now so I clearly did not kill him 7 years ago, which totally exonerates me. Please ask him when he was marked. I would like to know the exact date, or at least the month and year. And also - please be careful when you are in his vicinity. He is capable of anything. Even killing. He was the secret keeper and he did take Voldemort to the Potter home." Sirius gave the Aurors fair warning.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

The news of Sirius Blacks trial was not released in Europe until the day after the trial. Dumbledore was almost apoplectic when he spotted the headlines.

'Who in Merlins name has gotten Sirius out of Azkaban and given him a trial?' He wondered.

Dumbledore made his apologies to the ICW and said he had to go home for a national emergency. He set his portkey for the ministry and was soon seen scowling at anyone who caught his eye as he stormed through the ministry corridors looking for answers. He did not stop to knock as he burst through the doors into Fudges office.

"Fudge!" he yelled. "Who gave permission for Sirius Black to have a trial. He was supposed to be forgotten about and left there to die."

As much as Albus Dumbledore liked to think he was perfect and that everything he did for the Greater Good was actually a good idea, he did and does make mistakes. This mistake was a rather large and embarrasing one.

Storming into an office without making sure who was or was not already present, while yelling at the top of your voice, does not make a good impression.

"So you do admit to leaving me in Azkaban KNOWING that I was innocent, Mr Dumbledore." came the cold voice of Sirius Black who was standing over by the windows glaring at the headmaster.

Dumbledore immediately backtracked, placed a huge smile on his face, turned on the twinkly eyes and held out his hand. "Sirius my dear boy, I am delighted to hear you were released."

Sirius had his wand out, pointed straight into Dumbledores face. He ignored the outstretched hand.

"No you're not. You are in fact extremely angry. Why else would you come charging into this office demanding to know who let me out. Do not come near me, you old goat. Do not touch me. I do not want you sending me back to Azkaban by portkey. If you do that then I will be honor bound to kill you. I do not want to see you, hear you, or touch you for the rest of my life. This honor duel also extends to my family which includes my godson Harry Potter. You will stay away from him. You will stay away from me. You are banned from all Black and Potter properties."

"My dear boy, how is Harry? How is he doing?" Albus was seething inside. How dare this upstart make demands of him. He was the Chief Warlock, not this murderer.

"My dear old goat, I thought you were in charge?" Sirius spoke in a soft silky voice, designed to calm people down."Have you not been checking up on him? Was that not part of your duties as a so-called magical guardian? I must let the Wizarding Orphans Office know that as a magical guardian, you have clearly been failing in your duties."

"So I take it you have seen Harry, since you were released?" The last thing Albus wanted anyone to do was to contact the WOO. They would have NO record of Harry at all. Albus was also desperate for news of Harry. The boy had gone missing some 2 years earlier and the headmaster still had not found him.

"It does not matter if I have seen him or not. He is perfectly safe where he is and I have no intention of removing him from his home. Now that I have had the misfortune of running into you today. I am going to have to go through detoxification to remove all the tracking and compulsion charms I am sure you are placing on me as we speak." Sirius screwed up his face as if he had eaten something sour.

"Please Sirius? Cant we let bygones be bygones?" Dumbledore put a sad puppy dog look on his face.

"MY NAME IS LORD BLACK!" Sirius thundered. "You will address me as such. And no I cannot forget. I will not forget what you have done. You interfered in my life, in Harrys life and in the Potters lives."

"But it was all for the greater good, Sirius." Albus wheedled.

"You have not been given permission to be so familiar with me, old man. You will address me as Lord Black. The greater good of whom Mr Dumbledore? The greater good only of you, I would think. What you have done, was not done for the greater good of myself, or of any of the Potters, or for anyone in the wizarding world. Therefore I am left to conclude that we are nothing but chess pieces for your own personal greater good. You have my resignation and Harrys resignation. We will no longer be part of your greater good chess game. And remember my warning, You are now banned and persona non grata permanently from all Black and Potter properties. Good day Mr Dumbledore."

Sirius swept past the old goat taking care not to have any part of his clothes or body touch any part of the old goat. Dumbledore watched Sirius depart from the office with sadness.

Then he turned back to Minster Fudge and asked his question again. His eyes were now as cold as ice.

"What in Merlins name were you thinking to give that man a trial. He was supposed to stay in Azkaban." Albus demanded.

Fudge was tired of always being on the receiving ends of Dumbldores anger when it was the headmasters plans that invariably went wrong.

"Dont blame me for this fiasco. Madam Bones of the DMLE received new information that said Black was innocent and she followed it up. It is not my problem that you waltzed off to Europe at just the wrong time."

Headmaster Dumbledore glared at Minister Fudge and then swept out of the room. He went back to Hogwarts, and sat in his office and moped. He still had not found Harry despite a whole year of searching.

It was not until the next day, that Minerva was informed by the elves that Dumbledore was back in his office. The new school term would start in 2 days time.

Minerva opened the door of the headmasters office later that day and came bustling in. "Albus. When did you get back?" She asked. "Why didn't you tell me? Isn't this exciting? Sirius Black has been freed at long last. I always knew there was something fishy about his arrest and imprisonment. I never did remember hearing about a trial."

"The man is a murderer, He killed the Potters. He is also a death eater, Minerva. He is guilty and I WILL spend the rest of my days proving it." Dumbledore growled.

Minerva shook her head as she left the office. She thought Dumbledore was becoming far too obsessive over the issues of Sirius Black and Harry Potter.

Back in the staff room of Hogwarts school, the teachers were asking Minerva what was going on.

"Albus is not at all happy that Sirius Black has been freed. He says that the man is a murderer and that he, Albus, will do anything he can to prove that Black is a killer. I think Albus is becoming somewhat obsessive over the missing Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter and the new freed Sirius Black." Minerva explained.

Severus Snape snorted. "I bet that Harry Potter is nothing but a pampered prince who gets anything he wants, just like his father did."

Unknown to Minerva McGonagall, she had been obliviated by the headmaster shortly after Harry was left with the Dursley family. He had had to do that because she was so concerned about the bad feelings she had about the Boy-Who-Lived being raised there.

So she could only protest against Snapes comments. "I'm sure he won't be that bad. But if he is, we will deal with it, like we have done in the past."

Once again Snape snorted."Dealt with things in the past? That did not happen. You and Albus have never dealt with anything in the past. I'm living proof of that!"

Even now, almost 20 years later and Snape was still upset and angry about almost being bitten and mauled by a werewolf on the school grounds. None of the other students involved were severely punished over the incident. What made things worse was Sirius Black was one of the other students involved.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

On this same day, Amelia Bones was busy interrogating the rat known as Wormtail. He admitted to accepting the dark mark entirely voluntarily in June 1978, pretty much the same month he graduated from Hogwarts. He admitted to being both a Death eater and a spy inside the Order of the Phoenix, the vigilante group that headmaster Dumbledore had started up supposedly to fight Voldemort. In reality, the OOTP was more of an Information gathering device for Dumbledore to collect Information and use it selectively, but not to distribute it to benefit others.

Pettigrew admitted to being given orders from Dumbledore to change the secret keeper from Black to himself, and then to lead Voldemort to the Potter house. He also admitted spiking Sirius' drink on the night of October 20, 1981 so that the Potters would be persuaded to make the final push to dump Black and accept Pettigrew as the new secret keeper. Once that was done, Voldemort had chosen Halloween or Samhain, as an appropriate day to attack.

On the day in question, at dusk, Wormtail and Voldmort appeared at the gate. Pettigrew stayed back in the street, while the dark Lord went inside. James died downstairs,. Lily died upstairs. All he heard were the screams. Then there was silence. No baby crying, so he assumed that Harry was also dead, but the Dark Lord did not come back downstairs either.

When the sounds of apparition were heard, Pettigrew transformed into his rat form and scuttled off to hide. First he watched Sirius Black go inside the house and come out with Harry in his arms. He heard the argument between Black and Hagrid about where Harry should go. Sirius gave in and handed the baby over. Sirius went off to chase after traitorous rats and Hagrid took Harry to safety. Eventually Sirius caught up with the rat and confronted him in a muggle street. But Wormtail had been planning this for a while. He spotted Aurors showing up, and began yelling that Sirius was blame.

He knew he would have to cut off his finger to prove that he was "dead" even as he blew up a gas line that he also knew ran under that particular street. In the ensuing explosion, it was no trouble for Pettigrew to change into his rat form and escape down into the sewer tunnels and scurry to freedom.

He spent several weeks looking for a wizarding family with children where he would be a pet and be fed and looked after, while living as a rat. He chose to remain as a rat because as long as Sirius was still alive, he would be in danger if Peter Pettigrew was ever seen on the streets of Magical Britain.

He still wasn't sure just how he was discovered and brought to the ministry. Could the Minister enlighten him about that?

Director Bones was only too happy to tell him how he had been captured. Upon reading the description of Peter Pettigrew's rat form in the trial of Sirius Black, the 2 older Weasley boys were concerned that there was a grey rat in their family with a toe missing and who was definitely more than 4 to 5 years old.

"So they stunned you and brought you to me to checked for animagus ability and sure enough you were found to be an animagus. You were stunned again and brought to the Ministry cells. Your trial will held next week." The Director explained.

The following day was New Years eve, and Harry met with his godfather Sirius Black at the office of the lawyer, Dempster Wiggleswade. It was awkward at first, because Sirius had a ton of memories of both Harry and his parents, James and Lily. Sirius spoke of wanting to raise Harry and turn him into a miniature version of James so they could go out and prank other people. Harry kept asking to know about Lily, but Sirius didn't know a lot about her and kept trying to swing the conversation back to pranking wars and the Marauders.

Even at age 8, Henry knew that some pranksters can easily become bullies and besides, he was not his dad. Harry was actually far more like his mother Lily in both looks, personality and magical abilities. He was supersmart, loved history, loved reading and loved genealogy. James had no interest in reading. He much preferred Quidditch and flying around on his broom as well as being a bully. While Harry could fly, and was a seeker on the school Quidditch team, he really was not interested in a pro-Quidditch career after school.

Harry also made it clear that he was not going to live with Sirius. He already had a magical guardian and was not in any hurry to change it. Sirius could visit him at the lawyers offices for the forseeable future, but had to make arrangements at least 1 week before hand. Visits during the school term could only be held on a Friday evening or a Saturday morning since Harry was away at school.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

The following week, St Georges Academy started the new term as well. In the first History of Magic class, Harry was on tenterhooks, wanting to know what his grade for his essay would be. Professor Black swept in to hand them out, giving Harry a wink as he did so, and then disappearing out the door again. The History of Magic teacher was not too impressed, but he did receive a list of grades for each student for their essays. Harry looked at his essay. At the top in big fat green letters was an O+ as well as a comment.

 _This essay is what got him free. Well Done!_

Harrys eyes opened wide in shock. My essay got Sirius out of Azkaban? Wow!

After classes were done that day, Harry went to see Mr Black to try and get some more details.

"First up, I must apologise for taking your essay to the authorities, without asking your permission first. But you made so many good points about what was missing in that case, that I felt that someone should at least have a look at it."

Harry blushed. "That's OK, sir, You were just trying to help. And it did help."

"Yes it did. You can be very proud of yourself Henry. But you do need to keep this a secret since I never identified who my student was. I did not identify the school either, so you should be safe. Director Bones is in charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or the DMLE. She later told me that you were pointing out basic procedures that apparently were not followed back in 1981. She said the first thing she did was to go down to the Archives looking for a Trial Transcript. There was none. Then she had to go all the way to Azkaban to check Sirius Blacks arms and to give him a veritaserum interrogation. He passed both with flying colours. So she brought him back to London and he finally got his trial. I'm sure you have read all about it in the papers."

Harry nodded.

"Next week will be another trial of a crucial participant in this whole fiasco. I cannot tell you anything more."

Henry wondered who this new trial would be for. "I hope it is for Dumbledore. He appears to have interfered in mine and my parents life way more than he should have."

The following week the wizarding world was shocked when Peter Pettigrew was put on trial for murder, for being a death eater and for conspiracy to commit murder. He admitted being guilty on all charges and was swiftly pushed through the Veil.

The Daily Prophet had a field day writing up Pettigrews trial. This segued into a series about just how poorly Wizarding justice was at finding justice for victims of crimes and since when had the standards fallen so low?

Headmaster Dumbledore was not at all happy, at these events or at the questions being asked by the media. The fact that these events and trials were happening without him being notified, (ie without his permission) really made him angry. He was furious that someone appeared to be leaking his information to the DMLE and to the media. Dumbledore hoarded information away like gold and told no-one anything. Someone was leaking his secrets and he would find out who it was or his name was not Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!

A/N - I really struggled with this chapter. My muse kept wanting to have Dumbles and Snape arrested but I can't do that, not yet anyway. They both must still be at Hogwarts in 2 years time.


	8. Chapter 8

Disinherited Chapter 8

After all the excitement of Sirius Blacks trial and release in the first half of Harrys first year at St Georges academy, the second half of the first school year went much more smoothly than the first half. Harry was careful to not write anything that might make waves. He excelled in pretty much all of his classes. He loved the History and the Ancient Runes classes. Neville was a whiz at Herbology and they both grew to become more familiar with Potions as well. Harry liked maths so Arithmancy was not terribly hard for him either.

At the end of the school year, Harry had some tests. Kids aged 8 do not exactly get 3 hour exams, but they did get tests. Towards the end of the school year, Neville wrote to his grandmother asking to be allowed to stay with his friend again for the summer just like he had for Christmas. But this time his gran said NO. Neville was to come home for the summer holidays. The boys were extremely disappointed. They promised to keep in touch by OWL.

While Neville did have access to his magic, he could not do much with it since he was not yet allowed to have a wand. So the summer came and the boys split up and went to their respective homes. Harry spent a few hours each week with Sirius at the lawyers office, and got to know his godfather. Harry was not terribly impressed. While sometimes Sirius was morose and withdrawn. Other times he spoke of his years at Hogwarts when he was part of a pranking group called the Marauders and just how much fun they had. It seemed to Harry that his godfather wanted to remain a teenage boy in his mind, because that had been his happiest time. It took a while, but eventually Sirius was forced by the lawyer to get some help by talking to a mind healer twice a week.

Harry spent the rest of his summer becoming concerned about Neville. The boy had sent very few letters to Harry. And the ones he did send were of the one line versions that said, _I am fine, Doing well. Having fun in my greenhouses._ Harry got the impression that Neville was left alone and pretty much a prisoner. He was never allowed off the property to see his friend Harry, nor was he allowed to write lots of letters.

At the end of Summer, Harry was hopeful that Neville would return to St Georges. Fortunately the boy did show up, and it didn't take him long to shake off the effects of the rather lonely summer he had endured. Soon Harry and Neville were back into the routine of classes and sports.

Now that the wizarding and culture classes were done, that last spot on the Friday timetable was replaced with Astronomy. Fortunately the school had a planetarium so that they did not have to stay up late to watch the skies. The boys didn't need to use telescopes. but instead they used their eyes. The planetarium showed the night sky for that day, and indeed they could also go back and show all the previous astronomical events as well. Thus Harry learned about supernovas, black holes, comets, asteroids, the constellations, the zodiac, the planets, the cosmos, the stories of the American Moon landings and the boys were quite interested in following the new Space Shuttle program as well.

One thing the Astronomy class did was to spend 13 weeks watching the award winning TV series COSMOS by the well known mundane Astronomer Carl Sagan. The series had first aired in 1980, so even now some 9 years later, it was not too much out of date. There was a ton of interesting stories relating to the History of Astronomy and History of other subjects in the series as well. Harry loved that series. He loved the book based on the TV series as well.

The second year at St Georges passed very quietly and smoothly. Neville did not talk much about his home life, but Harry got the impression that his gran was not at all happy at having a squib for an heir. Neville was not permitted to stay with Harry for the Yule holidays nor for the following summer. At the end of the 2nd year. Neville told Harry that he would not be surprised if he was eventually disinherited and possibly dumped into a mundane orphanage. Harry swore that this would not happen, and began speaking to his grandparents and to Sirius about this eventuality.

While Sirius had eventually toned down his stories about his Hogwarts days, he still had not found anything to do to take up his interest. He had plenty of money and therefore had no need to work at a job, but he did not have a challenge or a reason to live for. He had also discovered that he was sterile. Most likely due to the inbreeding within his family, since his parents were actually both second cousins to each other. The Dementors certainly had not helped either.

Harry broached the subject one day.

"Sirius?" he asked on one of Sirius' visits to the lawyers office. "Do you have an heir?"

"Yes, Harry, it's you." Sirius replied

"Why is it me? Is that only because I am your godson?"

"Ye-es. Why are you asking?"

"I have reason to believe that one of my friends is about to be disinherited because his family think he is a squib, and I was wondering if perhaps you might adopt him and make him your heir. He does have his magic. It's just a little slow in manifesting itself. He is also a Pureblood by your own family standards. In fact his great grandmother was a Black as well, if that helps. "

Sirius perked up. "Don't you want to be my heir, Harry?"

"I am already the heir of two families. Potters and Selwyns. I don't really want or need a third. That will just force me to have to take on three wives when I get older. If you accept Neville, he can change his whole name to one that fits Black traditions, and it will give both him and you a new start and maybe a new family. You need a family to live for, Sirius, You are just wasting away here with nothing to do. Please talk about this with your mind healer on your next visit, OK?"

Sirius nodded.

Two weeks later when Harry and Sirius met up again, Sirius was bouncing around on his toes.

"Harry, you are brilliant. That was a great idea. I went to visit the Longbottoms and you're right. The attitude of both the grandmother and the head of house towards Neville is not good. I managed to spend about 20 minutes with young Neville and I asked him if he would perhaps like a new family.

His face lit up and he asked, 'You mean with Harry?'

I told him, 'No, I mean with me. Would you be open to me adopting you as my heir?' "

Neville was shocked. Someone finally wanted him. He had nodded frantically and thrown his arms around Sirius and cried. "Yes please." he sobbed.

Sirius explained to Neville that they needed to keep this quiet until such time as Neville was disinherited. Neville agreed.

One of the things Sirius had explained to Harry was that he had several cousins who were all girls. Thus on their marriages, none of their children had the name of Black. One of these children was being raised by his pureblood parents to expect to be named as the Black heir after Sirius, simply because they assumed they were the closest relatives to Sirius. Unfortunately the father of this family was a known Death Eater despite having denied it after the last wizarding war, (the one that had killed Harrys parents and put both of Nevilles parents into the long term ward at St Mungos) by claiming that he was under the Imperious curse. The one thing Sirius did not want, was for the Black fortune and wealth to be used to fund the terrorists like Voldemort and his death eaters. This death eater had a son who was the same age as Harry and Neville and he was a very arrogant child.

The third year of school also went quietly. At the end of the summer before going back to St Georges, Neville had been told by his grandmother that if he received a letter from Hogwarts on or before his 11th birthday, then he would be attending Hogwarts school. If he refused to do so, then he would be disinherited from the Longbottom name, and "your parents would be so disappointed in their son."

She went to proclaim that Hogwarts was the best school of its kind in the world, and Neville would attend to make his family proud. The grandmother tried to use guilt. But Neville had long since thought of his parents as dead since no-one was even trying to help them improve or get better. Neville was much more settled now that he was no longer had to be worried about what his grandmother might do to him. There was a plan in place if he was disinherited. In some ways, Neville did hope that he would be disinherited, because Sirius would be a much better father than any parent his grandmother had tried to be.

At school, in the third year, the boys were making many different potions.

Harry was learning how to use runes to run small machines such as radios, CD and cassette players with magic instead of electricity. These were popular mundane electronic devices that played music.

Neville was learning about breeding programs between magical and mundane plants in order to produce stronger plants with higher yields of potions ingredients.

Then it happened. Just before the end of their third school year, both Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter received their letters from Hogwarts. The boys discussed what to do, with Harrys grandparents as well as Sirius.

The biggest question was, would Henry go as Harry Potter or as Henry Selwyn?

"I would much rather go as Henry Selwyn. In disguise. I really don't want all the attention on me since the name Harry Potter is very famous." Harry stated emphatically.

Neville agreed. While the Longbottom name was also well known, it was not so famous. But if the fates decreed that Neville was to have a new name, he would prefer to go to Hogwarts as a Black instead.

So both boys chose to reject their Hogwarts letters under the names of Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, and they waited to see what would happen.

They had not even had time to send their replies when the next shock was announced.

The announcement was in the Daily Prophet, with all the other announcements on the inside back page.

 _"It is with regret that since my grandson Neville Longbottom is a confirmed squib, he has been disinherited from the Longbottom family. My new heir will now be Scion Draco Malfoy, the son of Lucius Malfoy. Draco is a 4th cousin to my former heir through the Black family. So mote it be." Signed Augusta Longbottom._

While Neville had been expecting this announcement for several months, the fact that it did actually happen was somewhat devastating and he spent a few hours crying. On the other hand things were not that bad, as he had already found a replacement family. The replies to Hogwarts were put on hold.

One week after the announcement in the paper, Sirius and Neville headed to Gringotts to conduct a blood adoption ceremony. Harry and his grandfather Ivor Selwyn did the same thing. The fact that the name of Harry Potter still received a letter from Hogwarts meant that being a legal adoption was not sufficient to recognize Harry's new name. It had to be accepted by magic as well, and the only way to do that was through a blood adoption.

So on June 30, 1991, Harry Potter formally became Henry Iago Selwyn, and Neville Longbottom formally became Archer Kio Black. These names showed up on the Hogwarts books and soon they too received their Letters of Invitation from Hogwarts.

Harry did not change all that much. He kept his mothers eyes, since they were also his grandmothers eyes. His dark hair did become slightly less messy, but he had gotten into the habit of dying his hair dark brown, (using muggle dyes so that they could not be cancelled by any spell) as well as wearing brown contact lenses in order to merge into the background.

Neville on the other hand went through quite a lot of change. His whole body slimmed down, and he grew a few inches taller. His sandy blond hair went dark brown and grew down to his shoulder blades. His eyes changed from blue to match Sirius' grey eyes. By the time he had stopped changing, he was looking much more like a Black.

The Hogwarts letters under the old names were sent back with rejections on them. The letters under the new names were sent back with acceptances. Minerva McGonagall never made the connection between 2 old names rejecting their invitations and 2 new names accepting theirs. Wizards and Witches are well known for not being able to think in any kind of logical manner.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

Professor McGonagall was unhappy. She had received 2 rejection letters from two Scions of old pureblood families. Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom had both rejected their letters of invitation. Well Neville's rejection was not terribly surprising, considering the fact that he had been disinherited from his family as a squib. But he must have some magic or he would not have received any invitation. The rejection from Harry Potter was of more concern, The headmaster would not be happy about this.

Minerva McGonagall headed to the headmasters office. Walking in the door, she found Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk, sucking on one of those awful lemon drop candies of his and staring off into space. He roused himself when his deputy entered the office.

"Yes Minerva? What seems to be the problem today?"

Minerva was not looking forward to this at all.

"Harry Potter has declined his invitation to attend Hogwarts." She spoke in a matter of fact tone.

"I'm sorry. Did you say Harry Potter declined?" Dumbledore asked.

Minerva nodded and held out the letter.

Dumbledore snatched the letter from her hand and scanned it. There were just two words written in the space provided. No Thanks.

Dumbledore got angry again. This would not do at all. Potter had to come to Hogwarts. The greater good depended on Harry being here at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore grabbed some floo powder and flooed away to the home of Arabella Figgs who lived at number 10 Privet Drive. She had a lot of cats, or half kneazles. He stormed out of the fireplace of the Arabella Figg's home, flung open the front door and disappeared down the street to Number 4 Privet Drive.

First he tested the blood wards he had placed. They were missing. He vaguely wondered what had happened, but was too angry to do anything about that right now. Going up to the front door, he banged on said door. He did not see the neighbours coming out of their houses at all the banging and noise. They began taking photos of the old man with long white hair and a long white beard and wearing garish blue robes with orange stars and planets on them.

The front door opened and the old man began pushing his way inside.

"Petunia, where is Harry-?" he stopped, The lady who had opened the door was not Petunia Dursley.

"You are not Petunia Dursley? Where is Petunia Dursley?" he demanded.

The lady looked the old man up and down. "She told me about you. She said that if an old man with long white hair and a long white beard and loud robes, should ever come knocking on the door, I was to tell you that Harry Potter is dead. That's all she said. The Dursleys moved out of here 4 years ago. I don't know where they are and I don't care to know where they are. I've been here for the last 4 years. I have passed her message on and now I demand that you leave my house now or I will call the police."

"No. He cannot be dead. How did he die? When did he die?"

"I do not know anything else except for that message. Harry Potter is dead. That is all I know! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!"

Dumbledore found himself pushed back out of the door and the front door was slammed and locked behind him. He was in shock! It never occurred to him to ask how could Harry Potter have declined his Hogwarts letter if he were dead?

Dumbledore was so dumbfounded he stood on that doorstep in full view of Mundanes for some 5 minutes before he roused himself and disapparated back to Hogwarts. Yes readers, he disappeared right in front of mundanes and their recording devices.

When he got back to his office, Dumbledore was depressed. The next time Minerva went in to see him, all Dumbledore could says was . "He's dead. He's dead."

"Who's dead?" asked Minerva.

"Harry Potter is dead." Dumbledore moaned.

Minerva frowned. "That can't be right. He just declined his invitation a few hours ago. How can he decline an invitation if he is dead? Who says he is dead anyway?"

"The lady living at Number 4 Privet drive."

Minerva frowned again. "So Petunia Dursley told you that Harry Potter was dead?" She needed clarification. He was not making any sense.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. The lady who lives there now. She said that Petunia Dursley moved away 4 years ago and she moved in. She also said that Mrs Dursley told her that if a man fitting my description ever showed up, she was to tell me that Harry Potter is dead."

Minerva put her head back and laughed. "And you believed her? That's a relief. Albus, you have to stop being so gullible. We know Harry Potter is not dead, because today he sent us back his answer in which he declined our invitation. We also know that the Dursleys have moved. Where are they now, do you know? Did you test the wards?"

Dumbledore perked up. Trust his deputy to have an answer.

"There were no wards. None at all. So what do we do now? Harry Potter must attend this school!" he vowed.

"For now, I think we should make a statement that Harry is being homeschooled privately since he has declined our invitation. That is really all we can say. And since we have no idea where he is, there is not much else we can do." Minerva McGonagall replied. She was used to thinking up ways of getting Albus Dumbledore out of trouble.

Except that Professor McGonagall had no idea of the trouble that was yet to come.

The photos and videos began appearing in the Muggle TV stations and in the newspapers the next day. It wasn't long before the ICW received word of Dumbledores blatant breach of the Statute of Secrecy act. Dumbledore was called to the ICW headquarters and after some questioning, he was effectively removed as the Supreme Mugwump and ejected as the British representative to the ICW. The Wizengamot soon received a request for a new British representative as Albus Dumbldore was no longer a suitable candidate.

Noone on the Wizengamot wanted to take up that position, so Sirius Black volunteered. Just to be the British representative mind you, not the Supreme Mugwump. Sirius Black was quickly elected and then forgotten about as the Wizengamot went about its daily business.

Albus Dumbledore was furious that he had been so stupid as to apparate in front of all the neighbours. And lose the Supreme Mugwump position over his stupidity.

The news eventually came out in the Daily Prophet that Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the Chosen One, the Saviour, was missing. He was not dead, but he was no longer with the relatives that should have been raising him. No-one knew where he was. But Dumbledore was searching. Dumbledore also said that Mr Potter had declined the invitation to attend Hogwarts, and that was all the information he had. The Daily Prophet then delicately suggested that maybe the Boy who lived was really dead. Dumbledore immediately denied this. Some squibs and mundane borns did try and ascertain if there was a death certificate in the mundane records, but since they were not closely blood related to the boy, they were unable to request his death record.

All the fuss about Harry Potter being missing, allowed Henry Selwyn and Archer Black to get used to their new permanent names and for Henry to be re-introduced back into the wizarding world. Henry had to get used to calling his guardians Mum and Dad instead of Gran and Grandpa. Archer had to get used to his new name and to calling his new father Dad, especially since he had never really had a dad before in his life.

Once the end of year exams for the 3rd year were completed, Henry and Neville both explained to David Hitchens, the principal of St Georges academy, that they would be taking a year or two off to attend Hogwarts, just to see what it was like and what all the fuss was about.

"Please save us a place if we ever need to come back." they asked. The Principal promised to do so.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

Neville worried that his grandmother might wonder where he had gone, but those feelings disappeared a few days later, when the Daily Prophet wrote a front page article on Draco Malfoy's becoming the new Longbottom heir. When asked what had happened to Neville, Algie Longbottom, the head of house explained that Neville was disinherited for being a squib, and thus a new heir had to be chosen. Neville stopped worrying after this.

As for Draco Malfoy-Longbottom, as he was now calling himself, he delighted in calling Neville No-Name a squib. "That boy is a squib, which means he will never be the heir. I would have preferred that he be ejected from our world, but he was not. I just hope I never come across Neville No-name for the rest of my life. He was a very boring person. The only thing he ever liked to do is to potter about in his glass houses and grow a few plants." The sneer was quite obvious on Draco's face as he spoke to the reporter. "I am now the heir for the Longbottom family. And that's the way it's going to stay. I also hope to become the Black heir in the future as Lord Sirius Black currently has no children, and therefore no heir. Since I am the closest Black male to his line, it is my right to be claimed as his heir."

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

The Selwyn and Black families decided that the summer was a good time to get away from London. So Henry went looking amongst the Potter properties at Gringotts and found a castle in North Wales that no-one seemed to know anything about. It would be fairly easy to be re-introduced to the Wizarding world through the magical district in Swansea, rather than in London.

The group, 3 adults and 2 children portkeyed onto the property and found themselves standing on a grassy lawn in front of a large somewhat imposing building, that did vaguely resemble a castle. There was at least one tower alongside a large 2 storey building, with 2 single story wings spreading out, one on each side.

After looking around, they all walked up to the door. Harry placed his hand on the door and felt his palm being pricked. The door then click open and they all entered.

They found themselves in a large open foyer, There was no grand staircase.

Seconds later 4 house elves popped into existence.

"Who are you?" The elf in front demanded.

"My name is Henry Iago Selwyn, but I was born Harry James Potter. I am the son of James Charlus Potter and Lily Rose Evans, aka Lily Rose Selwyn, and the grandson of Charlus Fleamont Potter and Dorea Euphemia Black."

The elves all smiled and bowed.

"My name is Woody. I am the head house elf. These are Ally who does the kitchen and cooking, Libby who cleans the castle and Jaxon who works the outside." The head elf replied.

"How long has it been since anyone with magic lived here?" Sirius asked.

"Master Henry died in 1980, sir. Now we only have their portraits to speak to."

"Who was Master Henry?" Harry asked.

"That would be Charlus' father Henry Potter. Your great grandfather." Selwyn replied as the elves had no idea how the young master Henry and the older master Henry were related.

Harry introduced his family.

"Woody, These are Ivor and Rose Evans, or Selwyn as they now prefer to be called. They are Lily's parents and pureblood Squibs. My biological grandparents and my adopted parents. Lily was known as a mundane-born, except that she was really a pureblood but she didn't know that. This is my godfather Sirius Black and his adopted son Archer Black, formerly known as Neville Longbottom. Neville was disowned and disinherited for supposedly being a squib. We have come to spend a few weeks just to relax before Neville and I go off to Hogwarts."

There was an awkward silence, and then Harry spoke again.

"What needs to be done first to make this castle liveable?"

"Wards first and then perhaps some food and then maybe the portraits." replied Sirius. "You need to control who gets in and out, and if you chat with the portraits you may learn a lot more wizarding history and family genealogy.

Harry nodded. "Woody, could you please rustle up some lunch for all of us and perhaps after lunch we could have a tour and choose our bedrooms? I'll deal with the wards now and then chat to the portraits after the tour."

The elves nodded and popped away.

Harry was led to the office where he was shown the ward book. Inside were many names, most of which were crossed out. The most recent names not crossed out included Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James, Potter, Lily Potter, Charlus Potter, Dorea Potter, Henry Potter, Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Peter Pettigrew and Severus Snape. Henry drew a solid black line through the last 3 names on the list as well as both his grandparents and parents. He then added the names of Archer Black, Henry Iago Selwyn, Ivor Selwyn, Rose Selwyn. Replacing the wards book in the drawer where he found it, Henry joined the others in the kitchen for an informal lunch.

After lunch they were all given the tour.

Downstairs were the Great Hall, the main staircase was around a corner and hidden behind a wall. Doorways on each side of the great Hall led off to the kitchen, the formal dining room, the music room, meeting room, office, drawing room and one bathroom.

Upstairs in the second floor were 4 bedrooms, each with a bathroom attached. But each bedroom was rather large, and had room for sofas, chairs, wardrobes, desks and bookshelves.

The tower had stairs that led up to what used to be an old signal lookout, More recently it had been a bell tower, Now there was nothing.

"Could be useful for star gazing" Henry muttered.

"This tower is now dubbed the Astronomy Tower." replied Sirius in a formal tone. Henry and Archer looked at him with questioning faces.

"There is a tower at Hogwarts called the Astronomy Tower. You will learn astronomy in that tower."

The two side wings turned out to be guest apartments, each with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a sitting room. Very few of any of the rooms had any furniture.

"Most of the furniture would probably be in the Potter Family Vault at Gringotts." Sirius explained.

So a quick trip was made to Gringotts to appropriate some more furniture, such as beds and a few chairs. A little shopping to purchase new mattresses and sheets as well, and soon the rooms were furnished and ready for occupation.

Over the next few weeks of the summer holidays, The Blacks and Selwyns settled into their new home, and made trips around northern Wales, as well as some shopping trips to Liverpool, and sports trips to Holyhead on Anglesea Island to watch the renowned Holyhead Harpies all girls team playing professional Quidditch on their home field. Longer trips to the magical district in Swansea for school supplies were also made.

"We have to buy telescopes for Astronomy classes?" Henry complained "Why don't they use Planetariums? Everyone else does!"

Sirius gave a bark of laughter.

"Hogwarts staff are going to claim that they are the best school of magic in the world. Now that you boys have been attending a magical school for 3 years, you are going to see just how bad Hogwarts really is. Why the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore has allowed the standards to drop so far, I don't know." Sirius was shaking his head.

"And why are you boys even attending this second rate school? Your parents will, said that they didn't want you attending Hogwarts if Dumbledore was still the headmaster. That is why we sent you to St Georges academy." Mr Selwyn whined but in a joking manner.

The boys looked at each other. Henry explained. "Because Dumbledore clearly wants us there. He did send letters. But we want to do it our way! I would kind of like to "stick it" to the old goat for all the interference and damage he has caused to my family." Henry continued."We want to also shake things up. Not be whom they expect us to be. If this does not work out, we can always go back to St Georges. Mr Hitchens has promised to keep our places."

On 31st August 1991, the whole family made sure that trunks were packed, and the castle was vacated as they all moved back to the Evans home in Potter Bar. The next day would be D-Day (Departure Day) as they were finally off to Hogwarts.

A/N _\- I have finally gotten this story to the point where Harry and Neville (my last mention of the old names) will start Hogwarts! This is a good place to take a small break while going on hiatus for a few weeks. My muse gave me a new storyline last week, and I really want to do this, so I figured I can write up this new story as my NaNoWriMo story during November. This new fic will be another HP Fan Fic with a different storyline, but still has an Independent Harry. I hope this new fic will eventually be posted here (on FFN), if it ends up coming together the way I have planned. I have a ton of ideas for HIPS while the boys are at Hogwarts. But I need to put them together in a cohesive manner so that the whole story is readable. I promise that I will continue with HIPS after November!_


	9. Chapter 9

A/N - _I'm back temporarily. I am doing well with my new Nanowrimo story. My new HP Fic now has over 33,000 words and its only been 10 days so far! So I thought I would give my starving readers a new chapter. This is the Hogwarts Express and the Sorting ceremony. Also thanks to reviews pointing out continuity errors, I have made a few small corrections, nothing major. The biggest corrections were made in chapters 6 and 8 if you want to re-read those chapters._

On September 1st, Henry Selwyn, Archer Black and their new families all flooed to the Magical side of Kings Cross station early. Henry and Archer soon found an empty train compartment and settled in. As the time crawled closer and closer to 11 AM, more and more students began crowding the corridor of the train. Compartment doors slammed as students claimed their seats and placed their trunks on the luggage racks. Henry also heard several names being called out loudly as friends greeted each other after a long hot summer.

Henry leaned out the window and listened to a rather odd conversation. There was a large family of red-headed boys with one small girl, and a loud mouthed mother, who had entered the station on the magical side, taken all their luggage trolleys through the wall to the mundane side and then returned again some thirty minutes later. The mother was complaining, quite loudly.

"Well I never! Who does he think he is - telling me what I can and cannot say. I think I will tell the headmaster about him. He had no right at all!

"Actually, Mother" said the tallest red-headed boy who had a badge pinned to his robe. Henry couldn't see what the badge said, but he could certainly hear what the boy was saying. "He was right. You were breaking the International statute of secrecy by mentioning the platform number and the word Mundane in a really loud voice and on the Mundane side of the platform. He has every right to report you to the Ministry. It's a good thing you didn't tell him your name."

"Are you sure the headmaster told you to do that, mother?" asked another boy.

"Yes and why we did we do that, anyway?" asked his identical twin brother.

"You said we would find Harry Potter and that I could be his friend. You promised me. So where is he?" asked a third red headed boy.

"I don't know what happened to him, boys." sighed the mother. She was clearly frustrated. "The headmaster told me that Harry Potter was supposed to be on the mundane side of the station. Hagrid was told to get him to the station and then leave. I was told to have you all with me so that we could all help The Boy-Who-Lived get onto the right platform. I don't know why he was not there. I do hope he's OK, the poor child."

Henry quickly averted his eyes to avoid making eye contact with any of the red heads as they loaded several large trunks onto the train. He turned away from the window just in time to hear a loud Croak and see a frog hopping into his compartment. A girl with dark brown hair cut into a page boy style chased after him. "Ribbit. Come back. You are supposed to stay in my pocket."

"Shouldn't that frog be in a cage?" Archer asked.

"It's a toad, and yes it should, but the cage broke last week and I didn't have time to go to Diagon Alley to get a new one." the new girl replied.

"He can use my owls cage." Henry spoke up. "I sent Hedwig onto school to wait for me. She hates being cooped up."

The girl smiled. "Thanks. I'm Lilith Moon." The girl introduced herself as an afterthought, while she stuffed the toad into Hedwigs cage.

Henry and Lilith's eyes connected and held as they shook hand. Tingles ran up and down both of their bodies. The connection was broken once they let go of each others hands. Henry and Archer both placed Lilith's trunk in the rack and they sat down together.

"So, are you a first year, Lilith?" Henry asked, just to break the awkward silence. She nodded.

Once the train got moving, the three students spent the trip all getting to know each other.

There were four interruptions over the next four hours. The first was a red headed boy dragging his trunk behind him. He opened the compartment door and looked at everyone closely before asking if he could sit with them."There is no room anywhere else."

"No" Henry replied instantly, having heard the boy previously complaining about wanting to be Harry Potter's best friend. Henry now wanted nothing to do with him.

"Liar" Archer also spoke at the same time. Henry indicated for him to continue. "The train is magical. It can expand to fit in as many compartments as needed. Just ask the train for a new compartment. But you are not sitting here."

The red haired boy glared at Archer and Henry. "My brother is the headboy. He will make you pay for being horrible to me." He slammed the door shut and continued down the corridor dragging his trunk behind him.

Lilith spoke up. "I wonder why he doesn't shrink his trunk and carry it in his pocket?"

Henry gaped at her. "You can do that? Noone told me that!" Turning to Archer with a look of exaggerated pain on his face, he exclaimed. "You made me pull my trunk all the way down the corridor, when it could have been in my pocket? You should have told me. I bet I looked a real git dragging that thing."

Archer nodded. "Yep, it was funny watching you huffing and puffing while you hauled that thing down the corridor. I didn't want to spoil your fun!"

The youngsters all laughed at Henry's obvious pretence of being outraged.

An hour later, and someone knocked on the door. "Sweets for anyone?" Came the trolley lady's voice.

"Cool, Lunch time. The sweets are here." Henry flung open the door and purchased all the chocolate frogs he could afford as well as some ice mice and pumpkin pasties. He didnt get any of those horrible Bertie Botts Every Flavour beans. Some of those flavours were truly revolting. He shared his frogs with Archer and Lilith and managed to pick up 3 new cards for his collection. The rest he already had.

An hour after lunch, a girl with bushy brown hair dropped in. "I heard that Harry Potter is on this train. I've read all about him in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the 20th Century! Have you seen him?"

"NO!" was the reply from all three of the current occupiers.

The girl didn't get the message. She tried again."I'm Hermione Granger. Who are you?"

"Not interested." Henry stated crossly as he moved toward Hermione to close the door.

Hermione had a shocked look on her face as Henry pushed her back into the corridor and firmly closed the door.

Another hour or so later, the door was opened again. This time a blonde haired boy with a sneer on his face, and two large bodyguards behind him, stepped in.

"Is it true?" he asked. "They say that Harry Potter is on this train." His eyes fell on Lilith Moon, and his sneer got worse. "My mistake. Harry Potter would never consort with the likes of her. She is nothing but a squib. I'm Draco Malfoy-Longbottom by the way. I am heir to the houses of Malfoy and Longbottom. I can show you who the best people are, and who to avoid. Here's the first lesson for free. Dump the Squib. She should not even be at Hogwarts." Malfoy sneered and backed out of the compartment.

Archer closed the door and turned the bolt on the door to make sure it was locked. He was very thankful that Draco had not even looked at him, let alone recognized him.

"Humph." Henry muttered. "Hands up any of us who have squibs in the family or who are descended from squibs or have been thought to be squibs." Three hands went up.

"Whew! Thank Merlin for that." gasped Lilith. "I thought you would all kick me out once you knew."

"So who in your family are squibs, Lilith?" Henry asked gently.

"I'm the youngest of two children. My older brother is a squib. I'm the only daughter and obviously I have magic. Which means my brother cannot inherit the Moon title or the lands. I will either inherit or be regent for any male child I eventually have."

"Is your brother Alex Moon, by any chance?" Henry asked.

Lilith's face brightened up. "Yes." she replied. "Do you know him?"

"I'm sure you know not to mention this, but we both attended the same school he does. He was one of the first students I met when I first started at St Georges Academy, three years ago."

Lilith relaxed. Finally there was someone else who knew about squibs, knew about the Saint schools and did not reject her.

"My relatives thought I was a squib when I didn't do any magic as a kid. They dumped me at St Georges to be educated. Now they are forcing me to attend Hogwarts, just because everyone else in my family has been there. I would much prefer to stay at St Georges. Henry here is coming with me just so I am not on my own." explained Archer. "Otherwise, I might have been dumped out in the Mundane world."

"My grandparents are squibs, but my parents were both magical as am I. My mothers sister is also a squib." This was Henry's contribution.

The group were quiet for a time and then Henry spoke up again.

"Do any of you know what houses you might be sorted into, or that you want to be sorted into?"

"My father was Gryffindor and my mother was Hufflepuff." replied Archer proudly. "I've heard all about the Marauders from Gryffindor and how they were bullies. I hope to get into the house of justice and loyalty - Hufflepuff."

"My parents were Slytherin, but if Draco Malfoy and his ilk are also in Slytherin then I do NOT want to be in Slytherin. They will be bullying me for having a squib for a brother. It's not like I can control how much magic my siblings do or don't have." Lilith sobbed quietly.

It was Henry's turn next. "My mother should have been in Ravenclaw but she ended up in Gryffindor, alongside my dad. My dad was a bully and my mum was very very smart. I had to hide my intelligence when I was younger. But since I started school at St Georges, I have had so much fun. Now I can be as smart or as dumb as I want to be. But I am not going to be a know-it-all like that girl Hermione was. If I had to choose, I think I would prefer Hufflepuff for their loyalty and sense of justice rather than Gryffindor for their so called bravery or rushing into things without thinking, or Ravenclaw for their constant need to acquire knowledge. Being smart and foolishly brave, or leaping before you think, is not always a good thing."

Henry continued speaking. "So if I am figure this right, none of us have ever had any older siblings who have been to Hogwarts, right?"

The others nodded.

"Then let's decide on a house just for the three of us. A house that will support us, rather than expect us to compete with each other or risk our necks on daring plans. As for the sorting ceremony. It's not scary at all. My grandfather was told that it is nothing more than a sorting hat. A very old magical hat that can read the surface thoughts of your brain and decides where to put you. We have already seen some examples today. That ginger headed boy is a Weasley. I have read that the Weasleys are always Gryffindors. They are totally loyal to Old Dumbles. The blond arrogant ponce will, as Lilith said, probably be a Slytherin since he is so big on blood purity. That mundane girl with the bushy hair who read all those books - she will probably end up in Ravenclaw. So that leaves us with Hufflepuff - for Loyalty and Justice. I'm here solely to support Archer."

Archer nodded. "I have no wish to attend Hogwarts. I was forced to accept my invitation, or I would be disowned. That is what I was told, but over the summer I was disowned and disinherited anyway. But I was lucky enough to find a new family. I would have preferred to stay at St Georges Academy. I was doing very well there. My mother was in Hufflepuff. I can accept that. Besides, I believe the Head of House for Hufflepuff is currently the Herbology professor. Herbology is my most favourite subject"

Lilith nodded her head. "Hufflepuff it is then. How do we do that?"

Henry continued. "From what I understand, we each have to tell the hat, silently in our heads, that we want to be in Hufflepuff and nowhere else. Do NOT take no or any other house for an answer. The hat may argue with you, but if you claim that you will be happiest in Hufflepuff, then that is where it will place you. It cannot really put you where you will be unhappy and not strive to be your best.

"Archer, since you will be first, you say you want to be in your mothers house. Lilith, you need to tell the hat that if you get put into Slytherin, Draco will bully you for having a squib in your family. Indeed that he has already bullied for you for having a squib brother, and you are not willing to be bullied by him for the next seven years! Be strong and be firm!

Just as Henry finished speaking, there came a knock at the door. Archer opened the door and a prefect looked in. "It's time to wake up, tidy up and put your robes on. Just fifteen minutes to go now. Leave your trunks where they are. They will be taken up to the school later. Welcome to Hogwarts." The prefect withdrew, closing the door behind him.

Once the train had stopped at Hogsmeade station, Henry, Lilith and Archer all hung back to avoid the first rush of everyone else getting off the train. Soon they could hear a loud voice yelling, "Firs' years, over here. Firs' years to me."

Henry pushed his friends to get moving. "I think that's Hagrid. I guess we have to follow him."

Hagrid held up a lantern, and looked at the children gathering around him. Clearly he was looking for someone. Henry kept his head down and his eyes on the ground as they walked down to the lakeside. Pulled up on the beach were several small boats with no obvious means of propulsion.

"No more than four to a boat." said Hagrid waving his lantern towards the boats, and keeping his eyes on the children. It was obvious to Henry whom Hagrid was looking for. "No more than four to a boat." he encouraged the kids to find a boat and get in. Lilith, Henry and Archer all hopped into one boat and sat down quietly, not saying a word.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid asked. "Right then. Forward!" he yelled, and the boats began to move on their own.

Once on the other side of the lake, the children all got out of the boats and followed Hagrid up the path and the stairs to a large door, which Hagrid banged on. It was opened by an old lady with a witches hat and a sour looking expression on her face.

"The Firs' Years, Professor McGonagall." he said out loud. Then he leaned closer to the witch and said in a loud whisper. "He's not here. None of these kiddies look at all like him." The witch frowned and straightened up. "Thank you Hagrid." she said. "You may return to your duties now."

Looking at the children, she said, "Follow me." in a clipped tone before turning and walk away. Silently the children all climbed up several flights of stairs behind her, until coming out into a large room with a very high ceiling, several stairways going upwards along the walls and 2 sets of large wooden doors - one pair on each side of the room.

The witch stopped and cleared her throat.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." said the professor. Her eyes were also sweeping over the children, assessing them, clearly looking for someone.

"You will be able to sit and partake of the welcome feast, but before we can do that, you each need to be sorted into your houses. Your house will become your family for the next seven years. You will eat, sleep, play and learn with your housemates. There are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has produced some wonderful and famous witches and wizards and some of them have also produced dark lords and dark ladies. You must use your time here to determine which side you will be - light or dark. While you are attending this school, you are also expected to adhere to the rules of conduct. You will receive house points for good behaviour and achievements, and you will lose house points for bad behaviour and rule breaking. At the end of each year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. It is to be considered a great honour to win this and as such I trust everyone here will be at their best behaviour during the year."

The professor drew herself up tall. "Now I expect you all to smarten yourselves up. Please wait here. The Sorting Ceremony will begin shortly."

The professor disappeared through one set of large doors, while the new students waited and muttered.

A few minutes later there was a scream as several ghosts passed through. "New students for sorting?" one ghost asked. The students nodded. "That's good. Hope to see you in Hufflepuff." and the ghost disappeared.

The red-haired boy who had barged into Henry's compartment, and been summarily ejected, cleared his throat. "My brothers said we'll have to wrestle a troll." he bragged. "

Henry snorted."That is highly unlikely."

In a matter of seconds, the tall red haired boy was standing over Henry in a threatening manner. "Oh yeah, And what would you know, you pathetic mudblood?"

Henry put a questioning look on his face, and asked, "What's a mudblood?"

Noone heard or saw the professor return, but everyone heard her gasping.

"What did you say, young man?" she demanded.

Henry shrugged and pointed to the red haired boy. "He called me a mudblood and I was just asking what it means."

The red haired boy shook his head. "I did not say that word at all. I called him a mundane."

"Nope. I clearly heard the word mudblood come out of your mouth. So did everyone else." Henry appealed to the other students. They all had their eyes cast down and none of them sided with Henry.

"You have not even been sorted and already you are fighting? I see that you are going to be a lot of trouble, young man. For the record that word is a slur and supposedly describes a mundane born. It is never to be used in this school. If any staff member hears it, for every mention of that word other than a discussion in class, the speaker will receive an automatic 20 point loss and a detention."

Scowling at Henry, the Professor was not at all impressed. Addressing all the children, she continued with what she was saying. "Form into two lines and follow me. The sorting ceremony is about to begin."

Henry was also not impressed. "Is she is showing favoritism already? Since Weasley is probably going to be a Gryffindor, does that mean that Gryffindor is her house? Why did she not say anything to that horrid boy? That is not fair. The sooner we move back to St Georges, the better." He muttered to Archer.

Once in the great hall, Henry could hear the Granger girl commenting that the ceiling was charmed and she knew this because it was in Hogwarts a History. Henry felt like he was walking the gauntlet, between two long tables, jam packed full of students who were staring with curious looks on their faces.

As they all marched towards the front of the hall, the professor leading them eventually stopped beside a small stool and picked up a rather dirty old hat. Turning to the new students, she explained.

"As I call out your names, you will come and sit on this stool and the hat will tell you which house you will go into."

She placed the hat on the stool and its opened its mouth and sang a song of sorts. It was confirming that Hufflepuffs were loyal, Ravenclaws were smart, Gryffindors were brave and Slytherins were cunning. When it had finished the students at the table applauded. The Professor moved back to the front standing by the stool, and opened her scroll of names.

"Abbott, Hannah!" A blonde haired girl who was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Black, Archer!" Archer stepped forward, sat down and placed the hat on his head.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" asked a voice in his head.

"Hufflepuff please. My mum was a Hufflepuff, and I have no intention of making waves. I just want to get through this year and then I can leave. Although if you can sort my friends to Hufflepuff with me, that would be great too."

"You and your friends are really going to shake this school up. Good luck, Mr Black." the hat replied.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted. Archer removed the hat and walked over to the Hufflepuff table. His robes changed to show the Hufflepuff yellow and black crest, and the black tie changed to the house yellow and black stripes.

"Bones, Susan!" She too went to Hufflepuff.

The other tables began to get a little restless. The first 3 firsties all going to the same house? That was unusual.

"Which branch of the Black family do you come from?" an older Hufflepuff wearing a Badge that said P, asked Archer.

"Could we wait until the sorting has ended? I have friends I hope will be sorted to this house as well." Archer replied.

The perfect nodded and stayed silent.

Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst both went to Ravenclaw. Lavender Brown finally went to Gryffindor. Millicent Bulstrode was the first to go to Slytherin.

Michael Corner and Stephen Cornfoot both went to Ravenclaw.

"Crabbe, Vincent!" He went to Slytherin, as did Tracey Davis.

Kevin Entwhistle went to Ravenclaw.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" Archer Black recognised a rich Mundane from the upper classes by the way he held himself and by the cut and style of the clothes he was wearing. He was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Seamus Finnegan went to Gryffindor.

Anthony Goldstein went to Hufflepuff.

"Goyle, Greg!" Another one for Slytherin.

"Granger, Hermione!" The bookish bushy haired know-it-all from the train was drafted into Ravenclaw and Archer released a sigh of relief.

Daphne Greengrass went to Slytherin.

Wayne Hopkins and Megan Jones ended up in Hufflepuff, and Archer gave them a smile of welcome as they sat down.

Su Li went to Ravenclaw, and Morag MacDougal to Hufflepuff. Archer was pleased that the name of Longbottom was missing and that no fuss was being made about it.

Ernie MacMillan was another new firstie for Gryffindor.

"Malfoy-Longbottom, Draco!" The whole school gasped and there was silence! The hat had barely touched his head when it called out Slytherin. The blonde boy swaggered over to the house of the snakes.

Roger Malone went to Ravenclaw.

"Moon, Lilith!" Lilith sat down and waited for the hat to be placed on her head.

"Hello." said the voice in her head.

"Hello, Mr Hat. I'd like to be placed in Hufflepuff please."

"Oh, and why would that be? Your family has usually been sorted to Slytherin."

"If you put me in Slytherin, then that blonde bully Malfoy-Longbottom will do nothing but bully me for the next 7 years just because my brother is a squib. That will make me very unhappy, and you are supposed to place us where we will be happy and can do our best. I will not do my best in Slytherin."

"No, I can see that you won't." replied the hat. It didn't even try and argue. "Hufflepuff!"

Archer breathed a huge sigh of relief that his first new friend was safely with him in Hufflepuff. Lilith slid into the space on the bench that he had made beside him.

Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson both went to Slytherin.

Then came a pair of identical twin Indian girls. One went to Ravenclaw and the other to Gryffindor.

Sally Ann Perks went to Gryffindor.

"Potter, Harry!" Henry had made sure that his head was down and looking at the floor so that any reaction on his face did not give the game away. He did not move.

The whispering that had started when that name was called died away as no-one responded. The professor called the name again.

"Potter, Harry!"

Again no-one responded. Archer held his breath hoping that nothing would happen to spoil their plans.

The Professor frowned, looked at the staff table, and got a hand wave from the headmaster to continue. He was also frowning. She moved onto the next name.

"Rivers, Quinn!" She went to Gryffindor.

"Roper, Sophie!" went to Slytherin

Joanne Runcorn went to Gryffindor.

"Selwyn, Henry!"

Henry moved up to the stool and sat down. The hat was dropped onto his head. Nothing happened.

"Could you please drop your shields, so I can sort you, Mr Selwyn?" A voice spoke in his head.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone about anything you find in my head?" Henry asked silently. "Most especially you will NOT tell the old goat headmaster anything you find in my head. He must NOT know the truth about me. This is for MY safety and that of my friends."

"I promise on my magic that I will never ever tell the old goat headmaster who you really are." The sorting hat promised.

"Thank you." sighed Henry as he lowered his occlumency shields.

The hat was overwhelmed by the images of two vastly different lives and two completely different names."

"Wow, you weren't kidding, were you. You definitely have loyalty as your most dominant trait. Yes Indeed. Good luck to you and your friends!" Hufflepuff! The hat announced.

Archer breathed another sigh of relief. They had passed the first major hurdle. The three friends were all together in the same house. He wiggled around to make another space on the bench beside him. Henry smoothly slid into the gap. "Stage 1 done. Liftoff." he muttered as he sat down. Archer grinned.

Zacharias Smith and Dean Thomas both went to Gryffindor.

Lisa Turpin went to Ravenclaw.

Ronald Weasley, the red headed bully, joined his brothers in Gryffindor and Blaise Zabini went to Slytherin.

Dumbledore stood up and muttered a few odd words and then food showed up on the table in front of the children. The older ones started filling up their plates so the new firsties followed suit.

"Now can you answer my question?" the Prefect across the table asked Archer.

"Which branch of the Blacks do I come from?" Archer asked. The Prefect nodded.

"I was adopted by Lord Sirius Orion Black. I am the current scion heir to the house of Black."

The prefect gasped. "But he said after his trial that he had no heirs."

"That was true at that time he spoke those words. But that was three months ago. He has an heir now. Me!"

"So am I allowed to know who you used to be?" the prefect asked.

"Nope. I'm sure you will find out eventually." Archer winked and went back to eating his food.

 **HIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPSHIPS**

Up at the staff table, Headmaster Dumbledore was muttering about losing 2 scions of the Noble families.

"What are you twittering about, Albus?" Professor Snape asked.

"When did the Longbottoms go dark? And where is Harry Potter?"

"Does anyone know anything about this boy, Archer Black?" Minerva McGonagall asked. "I'm sure I have never heard of him before."

"And I'm sure I don't know of anyone named Henry Selwyn. I know all the Selwyns, but no-one of that name." Professor Aurora Sinistra, who taught Astronomy, added.

After the scrumptious deserts had all vanished, the headmaster stood up. He gave out a few notices. nothing of any note until the last one. Stay away from the left hand corridor on the 3rd floor unless you wish to die a painful death?

Henry could not believe the old man. That was a blatant invitation for anyone who wanted to try, to go and check out said corridor. Well, he would not be one of those intrepid explorers. Henry had no wish to die.

Henry, Archer and Lilith followed all the other Hufflepuffs down to the Hufflepuff common room after dinner was finally over. All the first years were on the same floor, but the rule was that each room had to have the same gender sleeping in that room. Some rooms had 2 beds and others had 3. Lilith found herself without a partner since Abbot and Bones took one double bedroom and Jones and MacDougal took the other.

With the remaining three boys opting to all sleep in one triple room, it fell to our little group having to the claim the last triple bedroom, and also the only mixed gender bedroom in the dormitory. Henry and Archer had to promise Professor Sprout, 11 ways from Sunday, that Lilith was their friend and that nothing bad would happen to her.

Lilith's bed was on one side of the room, next to the window. Henry and Archer slept in beds across from the window, on the opposite side of the room. Their wardrobes and desks lined up along a third side and the door was in the 4th wall with a bookshelf next to it. This actually left a rather large amount of open space in the centre of the room. This was an ideal space to use for dancing, conferencing, or just lying around chatting.

The first night took a little getting used to, because there was one extra person in their room. The ambient sounds were different as well. But still, Henry was tired and he fell asleep fairly quickly.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N - W _ell NanoWrimo is over, and yes I did make my 50,000 word target. So I was a first time winner this year. Not sure that I need or want to do that again, but the experience was good. Now the story just needs a lot of editing and tidying up. And I want to finish this story first._ _So on with HIPS!_ _And thank you for being patient!_

The next morning, which was the first full day of school, a prefect knocked on the door at 7 AM to rouse the kids out of bed.

"Rise and shine, firsties. Time to get up, shower, dressed, and head down for breakfast. Classes start at 8.30 and you still have to get your schedules and find your classrooms. Up, Up, Up!"

The prefect finally left and moved on to the next room. Henry could hear him banging on the door and repeating those same words to the occupants of the next room.

Henry stretched as he sat up. He could see his roommates also waking up as well.

"Good morning, Archer, Lilith. Did you guys sleep well?" Henry asked. He was not normally so polite in the mornings, but this was a new experience, including sharing a bedroom with a girl, so he decided that it would be best to start out being polite.

"I slept great. Now I gotta go. Excuse me." Lilith replied as she disappeared off to the bathrooms.

Henry looked at Archer.

"I slept very well, thanks Henry." Archer replied as he too got out of bed and started getting his clothes together. "I'm next after Lilith." he claimed the bath room next.

Lilith rushed back into the bedroom and behind the makeshift screen that had been set up for her to get dressed behind. Archer disappeared for his morning shower. Henry could only sit and wait.

By 7.30 all three students were dressed, with their bags packed and getting hungry. They all exited their room and marched down to the common room. Since they did not know which classes they would have, they had packed all of their books into their bags along with paper and pens.

Since Henry and Archer were so used to using pen and paper for taking notes, and using quills and parchment only for their final essays, they chose to continue doing this. Lilith was intrigued when she discovered this, since she had no experience of using a mundane pen.

Down in the common room, a prefect herded 7 of the first years out of the common room and off to the Great Hall, while the rest were still being waited on. The symbol for the Hufflepuffs was a badger and since badgers like to live underground, their common room was one floor below the great hall, but not as low down as the Slytherins and their dungeons. Consequently there were not too many steps to climb before they arrived back at the main entrance near the outer doors and the Great Hall. The firsties crossed the large entrance foyer and were herded into the Great Hall and told to sit down at their table.

Breakfast time was when the owls arrived with mail and the daily prophet newspapers for those who held subscriptions. Today being the 2nd of September would be the day of Harry Potters last hurrah in the magical world. Henry was looking forward to the reaction.

The owls arrived towards the end of breakfast, and while he and Neville did not have a subscription, Lilith did, so it was easy enough to gather around to read. The letter was on the front page. The buzz and loud noise that arose after students had read it was quite shocking.

Henry looked at the staff table. Dumbledore had gone quite pale and then left the table.

The letter ran thus.

 _Sept 2, 1991_

 _Dear Wizarding World,_

 _My name is Harry James Potter._

 _I bet you are all wondering why I did not show up at the sorting ceremony at Hogwarts last night?_

 _Well, this letter is to advise you that I will NOT be enrolling at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft at all._

 _I was really looking forward to joining the wizarding world too. Sadly that will never happen. Do you want to know why?_

 _On one of my early visits to the Wizarding world, I discovered that there exists a rather large number of books that have been written about me and some of them were claiming to be my official biography. All of these books are WRONG! Not only are their facts wrong, they have not paid for the use of my name, title and image, and even worse, they have not asked me for permission to use my name, title and image._

 _Noone has once ever asked ME about what happened that night? Why has no-one even bothered to interview me to find out the true facts of what happened on October 31st 1981? None of you were in that house on the night my parents were killed, and I don't remember any details, therefore none of you have a clue as to what exactly happened. Everything you write is merely speculation. You have no facts, no evidence and NO memories. So what gives you the right to be making up lies about me and then selling those lies as facts? NONE whatsoever._

 _In the mundane world, it is common courtesy to pay for the privilege of using a famous persons name, title or image for books, newspaper articles, interviews, endorsements, advertisements, writing letters, etc etc. It doesn't matter why you want to use my name, title or image. Since I am clearly a famous person, you MUST pay me for the privilege of using my name, my titles and my image. And please note that I (and my lawyer) do have the right to say NO to any and all requests._

 _I hereby vow on my magic that I, Harry James Potter, give myself permission to use my name and title in this letter, so mote it be._

 _And now I discover that you call me your Saviour and the Boy Who Lived and the Chosen One! WTF? I am NOT anyone's Chosen one. I am not anyones Saviour. I am certainly not anyones PUPPET!. Why do you insist on worshipping me? That is just disgusting. You act as if I am your god and that you expect me to rescue you - again._

 _I am NOT a god. I am not a deity. I am just a human being exactly the same as you. If I cut myself, my blood is red - just like yours._

 _As to how I killed off the Dark Lord back in 1981. The fact is - I DID NOT KILL Lord Voldemort. My mother gave her life to protect her child. So if Voldemort ever does return, then my mother will not be available to kill him off again. I will not be available either._

 _You people got lucky once. Next time, you may not be so lucky to have someone else willing to sacrifice their life to save you all. Because it most certainly will not be me!_

 _Anyway I strongly suggest that you begin making your own preparations and start training in order to learn how to defend yourselves._

 _So if Old Voldie should return, then you people will be on your own to stop him, stun him, kill him, whatever you need to do._

 _I will not be helping you in any way, shape or form._

 _In the meantime, DO NOT look for me. Forget about me. Forget that I ever existed. I was only in your world for 15 months. Be warned. If I see any wizards, witches or wands anywhere around me, I will be reporting them to the ICW immediately. I have a right to privacy and I intend to enforce those rights!_

 _Every single time you wish to write or publish my name, my title or use my image, then you must contact my lawyer - Dempster Wiggleswade in Diagon Alley - and ask his permission and PAY for the privilege of using my name and/or image._

 _This is my one and only warning to the Wizarding World._

 _If you choose to ignore my words, then the consequences are on your heads, and you can only blame yourselves for your own misfortunes._

 _Goodbye_

 _Harry James Potter._

 _PS if anyone has written to me or sent me anything through the OWL mail, during the last 10 years, well for the record, I never ever received anything. Someone has put mail wards on me and is therefore stealing MY mail. Now who would do a thing like that? Try asking Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore_.

Dumbledore went pale and left the breakfast table to return to his office.

Breakfast went a little longer and was also rather louder than normal, as the name of Harry Potter was on everyone's lips.

Snape sneered as he watched the students. He was kind of half glad that the wretched boy would not be at Hogwarts to torment him, and he was half mad because now he was unable to keep an eye on her son like he had been forced to do when he vowed to stay on the light side for Headmaster Dumbledore.

Eventually Professor McGonagall had to stand up and tell all the staff members to hand out the schedules so that the students could get to class.

When the schedules were finally handed out, Henry and Archer discovered that their first class was Charms with the Ravenclaws.

The 5th year prefect showed the children how to get to the Charms classroom. Professor Flitwick was a little short man who had to stand on a pile of large books in order to see and be seen and heard. Henry thought that the professor might be part goblin. Since this was a wanded subject, this would be entirely new to all the firsties.

The first spell or charm they learned was turning a light on and off. Having the wand light up by speaking the word lumos was rather exciting. The various levels of lighting indicated just how powerful the witch or wizard was. When Henry and Archer both said Lumos at the same time, while imagining some light in their head, both their wands lit up with a very brilliant light. IT was so bright that everyone else had to shade or close their eyes.

"Nox, Black and Selwyn, say Nox to turn it off." Professor Flitwick advised them, as he hurried down to their desk to help them. But by the time he got to their desk, the boys had muttered Nox and their wand lights were off. The rest of the class were all blinking as their eyes recovered.

Flitwick was most impressed with the level of power that both boys were showing.

The next class was Herbology. Having already done three years of Herbology clases, and being familiar with most of the plants, Henry was quite frankly bored in this class. He hated having to go back to the beginning and start all over again. Archer however was in his element and he loved the class. He loved working with magical and non magical plants alike, no matter what level the class was. He could easily have sat his OWL Herbology exam already, if he had a mind to so do.

After lunch was History of Magic, where Henry discovered that the teacher, Cuthbert Binns, was a ghost. Apparently the man had died while teaching his class, at least a century earlier, and had simply stood up again as a ghost and continued to teach. He seldom spoke about anything more recent than the last Goblin wars of 1612 and 1752. Henry found this class to be quite boring, but the text book was very interesting. He had already read through it twice and was hoping to pick up some interesting new stories and anecdotes from the teacher to add to the details in the text book. Instead, the whole class just got a ghost who read the textbook in a monotone voice. Within minutes, Henry was bored again. He had already read the textbook twice. He was not surprised to watch several of his classmates put their heads onto their arms and take a snooze. He watched the know-it-all frown at everyone and pay attention to the ghost so that she could make some notes. Henry pulled out the St Georges year 4 history textbook and began reading that, while trying to tune out the boring monotone voice of Professor Binns.

Archer had the same problem as Henry and he too was reading his Year 4 history textbook.

Lilith had never read any history before and she asked Henry what to do because the teacher was so boring.

"If you don't want to be like the others and have a nap, then I suggest that you read the textbook." Henry whispered back.

Lilith settled back in her chair and placed the textbook in front of her. Hermione frowned at both Henry and Lilith.

At the end of the lesson, the only person clearly still listening to Professor Binns, was one Hermione Granger.

After the class was released, Hermione caught up to Henry and demanded to know what book he had been reading in class, because it looked to her as if he was not reading the assigned year 1 history book."

Henry frowned. He had noticed that Hermione insisted to knowing what everyone was doing, and if they were close to breaking the rules, she was not above threatening to tell someone.

"Not that it is any of your concern but the ghost is as boring as hell, and I read that text book ages ago. I am currently reading a 4th year history textbook." Henry was not happy at having to explain himself to a fellow classmate, especially one he did not know very well.

"Well, we are not in Year 4 and our exams will not have any year 4 questions in it. The teachers set the books and the tests to our level of understanding and it would behoove you to follow their instructions." Hermione explained in a rather snooty and arrogant tone of voice.

"Is that an order or a suggestion?" Henry asked.

"A strong suggestion of course. " Hermione replied.

"Well thank you for your suggestion, and I will think about it." Henry replied, knowing full well that he would be ignoring anything that the bossy know-it-all had to say or suggest.

The last class of the day was Potions which was also with the Ravenclaws and Professor Snape in the dungeons. A perfect picked the students from their history class and asked them where they had to go next.

"Potions with Professor Snape and the Ravenclaws." Susan Bones announced. The prefect winced.

"Ouch. Well, best get the bad news out of the way. He is not a good teacher and that is all I will say. So if you are ready, I will take you down to the dungeons."

The children packed up their bags and joined the line forming up behind the prefect as he lead the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws back towards the Great Hall. But instead of entering the Great Hall, this time they took a different set of stairs on the opposite side of the entry foyer (from those that went down to the Hufflepuff dormitory) that were clearly going down to the dungeons.

Once down the bottom, they were marched through several twisting and turning tunnels to a room with the word Potions on the door. The children were all discussing the Harry Potter letter from the newspaper.

"Stay here and wait. Professor Snape never allows anyone in to the room before he gets there so you will have to be patient and wait. And for goodness sake, please be quiet while you wait. He will often take points off if you get too loud. You don't want to lose any points on the first day of school. Good luck." The prefect quickly disappeared back into the tunnels.

Soon after their arrival, the Potions master showed up. He had a frown on his pale face, dark greasy hair falling over his eyes and a black cloak that billowed out behind him. _Not unlike Darth Vader_ \- was the thought that drifted through Henry's mind.

The professor pushed open the door and growled at the kids to "Get inside, Hurry up. We don't have all day!"

Henry and Archer found a double desk in the middle of the room to sit at. Not too close to the front, and not too far from the back. They could still see the board and could hear the teacher just fine. The boys pulled out their paper and pens and got ready to take notes. Lilith sat at another desk behind them. She was eventually partnered up with Justin Finch-Fletchly, from Hufflepuff. The Ravenclaws stuck to their side of the room.

Professor Snape had stayed back by the door as the children scrambled to find a seat. and once they were settled down, he slammed the door shut behind him and stalked up the aisle between the desks.

Arriving at the podium, he turned around and launched into his annual welcome speech.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class." he began. "As such, I don't expect any of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few who possess the predisposition I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can show you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death - if you are not as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The professor frowned as he watched one of these first year students doing something at his desk and not paying attention. The professor silently glided down the aisle, until he stood beside the miscreants' desk, while continuing to speak.

"Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts with abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough TO NOT PAY ATTENTION!"

Henry jumped. He was too busy writing down the professors words. He didn't see the professor move to stand beside him.

"Tell me, young man. What would I get if I added root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Henry frowned. That was not a first year question. It was not even a third year question. He shook his head and shrugged. With the teacher hovering over him this closely, Henry didn't trust his voice to not squeak or do something silly.

In the meantime, over on the Ravenclaw side of the room, Granger had raised her hand and was grunting like an excited child. "Ooh, Ooh, Ooh."

"You don't know?" Professor Snape spoke in a smarmy tone of voice. "Let's try again. Where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar?"

Henry grinned. That one was easy. "In the stomach of a goat, sir. They are used to counteract most ingested poisons. "

Granger put her hand down. Professor Snape was silent. He was shocked at the confidence this boy displayed at answering the second question so easily when he could not answer the admittedly harder first question.

And yet one Claw was eager to show off her knowledge and a Puff clearly had not read the fifth year book, but was familiar with the first year book.

He tried again. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" This one was a third year question.

Henry grinned again. Another easy question. " Nothing, sir. They are different names for the same plant, Also called Aconite, sir."

Snape tried one more question. This was for a NEWT level potion. "What is the most common potion that boomslang skin is used for?"

"Polyjuice Potion, sir." Henry grinned yet again. This one he had read about in one of his other potions books.

Snape was unimpressed. So the boy had answered three out of four questions correctly. Clearly the kid had done some reading. He decided it was time to stop and start the class properly.

"Only one of you knew the answers? Such a bunch of dunderheads that I have to teach." Snape muttered. "Well? Why aren't you writing all this down?" The kids got busy trying to remember the questions asked and the answers that had been given. Snape spoke up again. "About the first question I asked - the infusion of wormwood and root of asphodel - that gives you the Draught of Living Death.

Once the sound of quills scratching against parchment stopped, Snape aimed his wand at the board where the instructions for a potion were written up.

"Now I want you dunderheads all to try and make this Boil Cure Potion. Your ingredients are on those shelves. Go."

Henry and Archer looked at the board and read the instructions.

Add crushed snake fangs to your cauldron and stir.

Slice your Pungous Onions finely and place in cauldron, then heat the mixture.

Add dried nettles.

Add a dash of Flobberworm mucus and stir vigorously.

Add a sprinkle of powdered ginger root and stir vigorously again.

Add pickled Shrake spines.

Stir gently, so as not to overexcite the Shrake spines.

Add a glug of stewed horned slugs.

Add porcupine quills.

Finally, wave your wand over the cauldron to finish the potion.

The boys looked at each other in horror. These instructions for the Boil Cure potion on the board, were many years out of date. The old Book of Potions was no longer accepted in schools. Mainly because it had not been updated for forty years. While the necessary ingredients were all correct, there were some extra ingredients that were no longer required. There were also no stirring instructions, and no safety instructions for the Porcupine quills. And since this was a non wanded class, there was no need to wave your wand around. Professor Snape had already said there would be no silly wand waving in this class...

The correct instructions were in the updated version of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. The most recent edition was just 2 years old. Henry and Archer had made this cure a number of times because it was good for practice. They had the Magical Drafts book in their bags, so they both silently agreed to make the newer version.

Part 1

Add 6 snake fangs to the mortar.

Crush into a fine powder using the pestle.

Add 4 measures of the crushed fangs to the water in your cauldron.

Heat the mixture to 250 deg for 10 seconds, stirring 5 times clockwise

Leave to brew and return in 33-45 minutes.

Part 2

Add 4 horned slugs to your cauldron.

Take the cauldron off the fire before adding the next ingredient.

Add 2 porcupine quills to your cauldron.

Stir 5 times, anti-clockwise.

They easily fell into the partnership they had had for the last three years. Each knew exactly what he had to do. Henry set up the cauldron, poured in the water and began heating it up. His job was to make the potion. Archer went off to the shelves to find his ingredients. He would prepare all the ingredients.

Upon returning to his desk, Archer began by crushing the 6 snake fangs in his mortar using his pestle. Having added four measures of crushed snake fangs to the cauldron, Henry and Archer left the cauldron to brew for half an hour. They were sitting at their desks watching their cauldron, when he voice spoke up behind them.

"Merlin. What do you think you boys are doing? Sitting around doing nothing. You have a potion to complete." Came Snape's voice from behind them. Henry and Archer jumped. "Where are your flobberworms, your powdered ginger root, your shrake spines and the onions? Why are you not using those ingredients. They are listed on the board."

Henry turned around to find Snape glaring at them.

"The recipe you are using is an old one, Sir." Henry spoke calmly. "It is out of date, and can be considered dangerous. The onions are neutralised by the flobberworms and the ginger root is neutralized by the shrake pines. Since they cancel each other out, they are no longer required. And Sir, why are you using a recipe that calls for a wand when earlier today you said there would be no silly wand waving in this class? Also your recipe does not have any stirring instructions."

"Yes it does." Snape sputtered. "It plainly says, Stir Vigorously." Snape was clearly upset as he jabbed his hand towards the board.

"But there are NO directions." Henry replied. "I'm sure you are aware that the direction one stirs in, clockwise or anti-clockwise, as well as the number of stirs in that direction, makes a huge difference between a successful potion and an explosion."

Granger's voice interrupted. "What do you mean by stirring direction? Does it really matter in what the direction we have to stir? And an explosion. Should we be allowed to make such a dangerous potion in our first year, sir?" she frowned. "I think this calls for safety goggles at the very least."

Granger had left her potion sitting on her desk, and moved over to where Henry and Archer were sitting, apparently intent on listening in to the conversation. Just then, Granger's cauldron boiled over and the cauldron cracked. The potion inside went everywhere, including all over her Ravenclaw partner, who immediately broke out in boils.

Henry waved a hand towards Grangers desk. "You see, Granger? She did not take the cauldron off the fire before she put the porcupine quills in. The instructions say nothing about that. And everyone who knows anything about potions, knows that you must take a cauldron off the fire before porcupine quills are added. And yet the instructions don't mention that at all. I find that rather interesting."

Snape could only growl as his attempt to show all the first years just how much of dunderheads they all were, had clearly failed. He vanished Grangers cauldron and the spilt mess, demanded that Granger take her partner to the infirmary, and told everyone to clean up. "If any of you have any decent looking potion. Pour it into a vial, label it with the name of the potion as well as your names and the date and then leave them on my desk. For homework, I want you to write two feet on the many uses of porcupine quills in potions and why they cannot be added to any potion while the cauldron is still on the fire. Due at your next lesson. Dismissed." Snape disappeared through the door to his private rooms.

Granger and her partner disappeared out the door to find their way to the infirmary.

The rest of the class immediately surrounded Henry and Archer and began asking questions.

"Wow, you really stood up to him.

"He's the bat of the dungeons, a really nasty man."

"They say he is a brilliant potions master, but has really shitty people skills."

"Why is he using such an old recipe. Can you teach us the new recipes? So we don't have any accidents?"

"OK, OK." Henry held up his hands to hold everyone off. "If you want to make updated potions, you guys need to get yourselves a copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. They have most of the same potions as the old textbook, but are more updated."

Someone asked, "Can we do a study group? At least for potions? I really suck at potions and he really makes me nervous with his looming over our shoulders all the time. You clearly seem to know what you are doing. I would love to be in a study group, if that's OK."

Henry glanced the room. Everyone was nodding.

"Well," he drawled. "Archer and I were not planning on a study group. Once you get yourselves the new book, I'm sure you will do fine on your own."

"Why won't you lead a study group?" someone asked.

"Because you need to be find the answers for yourselves and not be waiting for someone to hand them to you." Archer replied. The Ravenclaws agreed, and slowly everyone began to pack up their bags, bottle their potions and leave the classroom. Archer was not about to mention just how bored he and Henry would be if they had to cover all the lower years, yet again. These kids would just have to find the answers on their own.

On the way out the door of the potions classroom, Henry and Archer were accosted by Granger who had taken her potions partner to the infirmary. "You have got to show me that recipe you were using, Why was it different from what Professor Snape put on the board? You really should not have been using any other recipe other than what the professor gives us. That is cheating." Granger stopped to breathe and Henry spoke up.

"Why should we not be permitted to use a better and more improved and clearly a safer recipe?"

"I'm sure the teachers know what is best for us to learn." Granger replied.

"Well in this case, the teacher was wrong. Expecting us to use an old and outdated recipe was very dangerous. You should be using your brain - you must have one or you would not be in Ravenclaw. I would expect you as a Ravenclaw to use your brain and do some research - and make an attempt to find the updated recipe for yourself. Don't depend on the teachers. We never do anything that any teacher tells us. We check it out for ourselves. It would not be good to blindly follow anyone in authority like that.

"Thank goodness, noone else had explosions using that old recipe. We chose to use the more recent recipe because we are not slaves to the so-called authorities in this school. Professor Snape is nothing but a bully, and despite his reputation for being a genius potions master, he is clearly a very poor teacher! If you wish to continue following that piss poor teacher, in order to avoid cheating, that is your perogative. We will be asking for private tutors."

Hermione was shocked. "Language!" she demanded. "And what do you mean Private tutors? We have teachers here. I don't think anyone could ask for private tutors. It is not normal practice to ask for private tutors."

"You're mundane born, right?" Archer asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Well we are both purebloods and we have been told since we were children that the Hogwarts charter does give students permission to have a private tutor in any subject, if you are unhappy with the official teacher for any reason. We are clearly unhappy with Snape and we refuse to be taught by him. Ergo, we will be invoking the Hogwarts charter."

"Who pays for the private tutor?' Hermione asked. She was hoping that the school would since it clearly provided substandard education.

"You have to find and pay for your own tutor. The school does nothing other than give you permission. They cannot really refuse since it is in the School charter."

Hermione was not happy. What with the huge fees her parents were already paying, she did not think they would agree to paying out more for a private tutor.

"So would you be willing to make it an open study group? she asked

"You mean inviting other students to learn from the tutors that WE have paid for?" asked Henry.

Hermione frowned. That had not occurred to her. But then she resolutely nodded.

"No, sorry. You're on your own. I can tell you to get a new textbook. The same one we told everyone else to get. Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. Flourish and Blotts have plenty of them. It is much more updated than whatever Snape was using."

Hermione nodded and quietly moved off, heading back to the Ravenclaw tower and common room. She would have to do some thinking.

Since the potions class was the last class of the day, a Hufflepuff perfect eventually showed up to take the students back to the Hufflepuff common room. The news of Henry and Archers potions lesson soon made the rounds of the common room and they were all pleased that Snape had been shown up for the poor teacher that he was.

At dinner in the great hall, it was the Ravenclaws who spread the gossip of Henry and Archer showing up Snape as a bad professor.

Snape was complaining to Dumbledore about those two boys who were arrogant and needed to be either expelled for their arrogance or given a whole lot of points for daring to suggest that they knew better than their teacher.

"Were you aware that there was a safer recipe, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape reluctantly nodded.

"So why did you not use the safer recipe?"

"Because knowing that accidents would happen, I needed to impress on those dunderheads to follow the recipe exactly."

"But Professor Snape, you do agree that your recipe said nothing about taking the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills!" Professor Spout spoke up looking shocked. "So how could they not make any mistake when the recipe was wrong?"

"They would all have little explosions, just my way of impressing on them how dangerous potions is. But those 2 boys ruined my lesson by using the safer recipe. I demand that they be expelled for cheating. How did they know the newer version anyway. I don't teach that until 3rd year at least." Snape was beginning to work himself into a temper tantrum.

"They have been taught potions for a number of years now. They told me this, yesterday." Sprout intervened. "And since this is normal for most Pureblood families, we cannot punish them for knowing and using that knowledge to their advantage."

Dumbledore nodded. "Professor Sprout is correct Severus, my boy. So I'm afraid they will not be punished."

Snape deflated. He left the staff table soon after. He chose to take his dinner in his rooms.

In the meantime, Dumbledore was asking the remaining teachers if any of them had heard any rumours of where Harry Potter might be.

"You see, I was told this summer that the boy was dead. But that letter in the newspaper shows that clearly he is not. I also did not appreciate him mentioning my name in such a ruinous manner. I do have a reputation to maintain, you know."

All of the teachers were aware of Dumbledore's obsession with the Boy who Lived, so they said nothing, other than shaking their heads in response to the last question asked.

Dumbledore fumed, but could do nothing more until dinner had ended. Since the Boy who Lived was clearly not planning on attending the school, he had to make other plans with respect to the stone that was currently hidden safely within the school. And where was Potter hiding anyway, since he was so clearly still alive.

Speaking of which, Dumbledore wondered, where was the Longbottom boy? He too was not at Hogwarts either. He decided that perhaps it was time to call Augusta Longbottom and ask. Dumbledore was already forgetting that the grandson Neville had been disowned and replaced with Draco Malfoy Longbottom as the new heir.

After dinner Henry, Archer and Lilith all headed down to their Hufflepuff dormitory and got stuck into their homework. Especially that potions essay on porcupine quills. It took a few days for Lilith to get used to the concept and practise of homework, since she had been homeschooled, but the boys were happy to help her, since they had already been doing homework for the last 3 years. Homework would be also made easier by the surreptitious use of rewriting some of the old first year assignments and essays from St Georges if they were on the right subject. One might call this cheating, but Henry preferred to call it, recycling of old essays. After all, recyling was good for the environment!

Just before dropping off to sleep that night, Henry decided that his first day at Hogwarts had been both interesting and boring at the same time. He wondered what would happen next!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

A/N

 _For the reviewer who said that the first day of classes (in chapter 10) was boring to read about, was it is the subject matter that you didn't like or the way I wrote it? This is a school. So of course there will be classes. Also this chapter is another filler chapter, again going into details of classes and such like. I have to get through the first year (Halloween and Corridor) without skipping over too much. If you don't wish to read about boring classes, you do not have to read this chapter. You will not lose too much from the story. Oh and there will be some Hermione bashing as well.  
_

 _Chapters will be slowing down, but will continue. I hope to do at least two chapters per month from here on out for this story. I have to edit and tidy up my Nanowrimo novel, and I am also now writing in another (new for me) genre as well, which takes up a lot of research._

Professor Dumbledore swept into the staff room for the first staff meeting, set two weeks after the new school year began.

"Good morning everyone. Please sit down. Let's get started." As usual he began with the NEWT classes so that those teachers could leave early. "Are there any problems with any of your NEWT students?" the teachers looked at each other, shrugged and shook their heads.

"Good. The NEWT teachers may leave. The staff were disrupted as several teachers who taught only NEWT classes left the room. "What about OWL students? Any problems with the fourth and fifth years?"

Again, there was silence, and the staff shook their heads.

"Good, good." So far, this meeting was going exactly how Dumbledore wanted. It may have only been two weeks since classes began, but as long as there were no early problems, he could concentrate on the more urgent issues of where Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were.

Second and Third year classes were dealt with easily. Those teachers who only taught the electives from third year and above were also allowed to leave at this point.

"And finally we have the first years. I am interested in the fallout from that letter supposedly written by Harry Potter, the day after the sorting ceremony. I contacted the Daily Prophet and asked them who delivered that letter to them. I am certain that letter is a fake. They claimed the letter was delivered to them by Harry's Lawyer, Mr Dempster Wiggleswade. I went to see him as well. I told him that since I was Harry's magical guardian, he was required to tell me where the boy was so that I can take up my Guardianship duties. Wiggleswade just laughed at me."

Dumbledore's thoughts went back to that meeting. It had not gone well at all.

"You claim to be Harry Potters guardian? Well, then if you can show me the paperwork written by his parents that says you are his guardian, then I will fix it right now." Wiggleswade chortled.

Dumbledore had to think fast. He knew that James and Lily had written no such approval for him despite his frequent requests for them to do so before they had passed away.

"It was a verbal agreement, an oath on their part. They must have died when they broke the oath, and gave the guardianship to someone else. But that's OK. You can just return guardianship to me and we'll say no more about this." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly.

Wiggleswade thought about this, and then replied.

"Or, we can charge you with the murder of James and Lily Potter since it was supposedly an oath between you and them, that got them killed when they supposedly went against your agreement and wrote who they wanted for guardianship in their wills. By the way, Dumbledore, I have read their wills. I am well aware of whom Harry was to go to and it was clearly NOT YOU!"

Dumbledore had to think fast. He knew that he was not listed as guardian. He had sealed their wills and the wills could not be opened by anyone who was not a Potter adult. Harry Potter was still just a child.

"Well, it could not have been Sirius Black. Harrys Godfather. He was in Azkaban for betraying his best friends to You-know-who."

"Yes. About that. I wonder who refused to allow Lord Black a trial. Hmmm? Was it not your job as the Chief Warlock to give the man a trial and yet you did no such thing?"

Dumbledore sputtered. "He was clearly guilty. He kept saying, 'I killed them, I killed them.' He seemed to be confessing."

"And how did that circumvent his right to a trial? A trial to which he was entitled, especially as the heir of a Noble and Ancient House! He was in shock. He would have been happy to have been tried by veritaserum." Wiggleswade pounced.

"But that is no longer a problem." The lawyer continued. "He has had his trial. He is now working on getting back into society. And no he has not taken up his guardianship duties. He is aware that he is not in the best of health. The boy is more than happy with the guardians he has now. Black is happy to be just a godfather to him."

"So who are Harry's guardians? I must go around and see them and find out if they want any help. I knew James and Lily very well." Dumbledore was getting desperate. He could not browbeat Black if he was not the boys guardian. So then who were they? Dumbledore tried to use legilmency on the lawyer. He wouldn't know. Dumbledore was wrong.

Wiggleswade roared out unexpectedly and Dumbledore jumped.

"No, you will not! You know nothing of James and Lily Potter. Their wills indicate that you did nothing to help them at all. In fact you demanded that they stay at Godrics Hollow and YOU got them killed. They should have been at Potter Manor behind the strongest wards of all. Your wards were nothing, old man. You got them killed. I have no intention of telling you anything about my client Harry Potter, and I demand that you leave my office. NOW! AND STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Dumbledore was forcibly evicted from the office and told never to return for any reason whatsoever.

All this had gone through Dumbledore's mind in just seconds as he waited for his staff to answer the question.

"The chatter about Potter's letter died down in just a couple of days and no-one had said anything else. Potter stated his opinion on the matter. He told us to forget about him, so that is what the children are doing. Forgetting about him." McGonagall replied. "It is sad too, but since the children never really knew him, and he said that all the books are all fake, then we don't really know anything about him at all. I do sometimes wonder where he is and what he is doing." She sighed. The other female teachers were nodding their heads.

Dumbledore was getting frustrated. He wanted the boy to be a hero. He needed the Potter boy to be a hero. Harry instead preferred to go into hiding. Dumbledore turned his attention to Neville Longbottom.

"Does anyone know anything about Neville Longbottom? I went to see Augusta Longbottom a few days ago, and she pretty much bit my head off and threw me out. She has a new heir now. Draco Malfoy-Longbottom. She claims Neville was a Squib and that she was forced to disown him from the family. So she has gotten herself a new heir. Does anyone know why she chose someone from the dark side as her heir?"

Dumbledore was not at all happy with this turn of events.

"Augusta was telling me, earlier in the summer, that she needed someone from the Black family to continue the Black family line as well as the Longbottoms. Draco was the closest Black cousin available. He will be required to have at least 3 sons minimum when he gets married. One each for the Malfoy, Black and Longbottom names. Of course, this assumes that he will inherit the Black lordship after Sirius dies." McGonagall commented out loud.

Dumbledore frowned at this. It went some way to explaining why the son of death eaters was now a light side heir, but Dumbledore was not happy about this change in events. The prophecy could no longer be made to come true when both of the protagonists were now in hiding and no longer available to be trained by Professor Dumbledore.

He shook his head and continued with the rest of the meeting.

"Are there any problems with the first year classes? Is everyone settling in?" he asked.

"As I'm sure, you all know. I have a pair of cheaters in my first year potions classes." Severus Snape complained. "Those two boys, Selwyn and Black. They refuse to follow my instruction and follow the recipe on the board. Instead they have the gall to tell me, that I am wrong. Me! A master of potions! How dare they tell me what to do in my own class. I demand that they be expelled, They are upsetting my classroom. They have passed out copies of the more recent edition of the required textbook and everyone now works from that."

"And what is wrong with that Severus." Professor Sprout snapped. "You know they are only doing what your snakes do. You give the same newer edition to your snakes, which is why they don't make those same mistakes and therefore don't lose any points. Selwyn and Black are just evening things up. You are just upset that they caught onto your little secret so early and did something to change things. Good for them, I say."

Dumbledore look around. "Anything else?" he asked.

"They laugh at me in Astronomy." Sinistra complained. "Those same two boys, Selwyn and Black. They sit there twiddling their thumbs and laugh at me. Every time I try to tell them something about astronomy, they contradict me, telling me that I am so out of date, it is not funny. They even tried to claim that the muggles have sent men to the moon. I told them that it was impossible to breath in space because there was no air up there. They agreed with that. So when I asked them how did they breathe in the space, they replied that the men have air packs on their backs. Air packs, Pshaw! Have you ever heard of such a dumb thing." Sinistra giggled. "The worst thing was that all the other muggleborn children agreed with those two boys and the more I tried to tell them that noone could go into space, the more they tried to tell me that it was not true because the muggles are supposedly doing it every day."

"Perhaps you might need to look into the truth of the matter, Aurora, and find out if it is true or not. You are supposed to keep up to date with your subject, and if the muggles are ahead of our knowledge, and the muggleborn children are aware of this, then I think you need to listen to them and find out the truth." McGonagall spoke gently but firmly in her capacity as deputy headmistress. Sinistra slumped in her chair. She had hoped to find some support, but to be chastised by the deputy headmistress like this, was just not nice.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

"How are those two boys doing in herbology, and in your house, Professor Sprout?" McGonagall asked.

Sprout began gushing. "Oh they are wonderful boys. Black loves plants and herbology. He is such a wonderful and patient boy. He helps everyone to understand why we do things one way and not in a different way. Selwyn is doing well in herbology, but it is clearly not his favourite subject. Their essays are always so interesting as well. Not like that Granger girl, She does nothing except repeat what the text book says. And she is constantly going over the length limits. She refuses to admit that the length limits are there for a reason and that she needs to show off her own understanding of the subject, and not just regurgitate the textbook. I dread reading her essays. Those are just so boring."

Most of the other teachers were nodding. They had the same problems with Grangers essays as well.

"As for the House," Sprout continued, "Those two boys continue to shine. They are helpful to anyone in the first year, no matter what house they are in. Yes, Snape, they even help your first year slytherins - those who ask for help anyway. They are really racking up the points for house unity. If they continue being this nice to everyone, Hufflepuff might even have a chance to win the house cup this year." Sprout sat back, very pleased with her first report.

McGonagall was next. "The first years are settling well to my classes. There seems to be rather a lot of competition between those same three children, Granger, Black and Selwyn. I'm not sure why. But those three invariably are usually the first to master any of the class lessons. Yes, Severus, they are even faster than your snakes in their transfigurations. And like Sprout says, Grangers essays are over the limit and just repeating the textbook, while Selwyn and Black keep to the limit and write interesting essays."

Flitwicks report was similar to McGonagalls for a first time wanded class. He too reported the feeling of competition between Granger on one side and Selwyn and Black on the other. And he had the same complaints about Granger and her overlong essays as everyone else.

"How is she doing in your house, Filius?" McGonagall asked.

He frowned and shook his head. "Not good. I think she has been picked at the first year victim for this year because of her incessant hand waving."

Snape snorted. Everyone knew that he detested and ignored know-it-all students in his class who insisted on waving their hands just to get attention.

Dumbledore looked over at Quirrell, the last teacher to report in. Well, he was not actually the last teacher, but since Binns the History teacher never attended these staff meetings, for all intents and purposes, Quirrell was the last teacher.

"How are the first years doing in your Defence classes, Quirinius?" Dumbledore asked gently. He was fully aware of who was possessing his former muggle studies teacher, but had allowed him back in school in order to test the Potter boy. But things had gone off course now that the Potter boy had refused to enroll at school. Dumbledore was not sure what to do with Quirinius now.

"Th-th-they have on-on-only just be-begun using their wands. Th-they have no-no training yet. Th-th-they have a lot to learn. We are do-do-doing mo-mostly theory and-and his-history of the th-the dark arts."

Quirell stopped speaking. and once again silence reigned.

Snape stood up. "I have some potions brewing that I must get back to. Are we done here?" he asked.

Dumbledore nodded and Snape quickly left the room. That was the signal for everyone else to slowly drift out of the staff room as well.

In early October when the leaves on the trees were starting to change to their fall colours, the first years had their flying lesson. They were to be tested on how well they flew a broom.

All the first years were told to attend the mandatory flying class on a Thursday afternoon at the beginning of October. The brooms were all laid out on the ground, in a square, ten brooms to each side.

Draco Malfoy-Longbottom had received a Remembrall from his new guardian in the owl post at breakfast on the morning of the flying lesson. Ronald Weasley decided to poke some fun at Draco's lack of memory as he walked past the Slytherin table. He had snatched the remembrall out of Draco's hand and held it aloft.

"Hey, look. Draco has forgotten something important. I wonder if he forgot his brains."

"What are you doing, Mr Weasley?" his head of house asked him in a stern voice.

"Nothing, Professor McGonagall." Ronald hated being challenged by anyone in authority, especially in public, and the great hall was the most public place at Hogwarts. He dropped the remembrall back onto the Slytherin table and slouched off back to the Gryffindor table where he belonged.

Later that afternoon, Draco and Ronald faced each other across house lines as they battled to be the best flyer in the year. Hermione Granger fell off her broom after Draco flew past her too closely. She landed awkwardly and broke her wrist. She was taken to the infirmary by Madam Hooch to have her broken wrist repaired. The rest of the class were told specifically by Madam Hooch to not move at all. Draco decided not to wait while she was gone, but instead he kicked off and went flying. As he did so, he did not notice his remembrall falling out of his pocket to the ground. Ronald Weasley picked it up.

"Look!" he shouted as he picked it up from the ground. "Malfoy's lost his remembrall! I think I will leave somewhere for Malfoy to find. If he can remember. How about up in a tree?"

Ron got onto his broom and rose up to face Malfoy in the air. Both boys were already good fliers.

"Hey Malfoy. Did you forget something?" He waved the remembrall in the air.

Malfoy said nothing. He was not one to plead and beg, and for now the weasel had the drop on him. Malfoy headed for the ground, while Ron threw the remembrall high up in the air. If Malfoy didn't try and catch it, it would break and his new Guardian might have something to say about that. Draco really had no choice but to try and catch that remembrall.

Unfortunately Draco was just seconds too late as the remembrall landed in the branches of a tree, as did Draco who got all caught up in the branches and ended up hanging upside down. Madam Hooch had to come and rescue him once she returned from the infirmary. By that time Ron was back on the ground and Draco was the only person in any trouble for not staying on the ground after the class had been specifically told to not move at all.

The rest of the class was kind of tame. Henry and Archer both behaved more like muggle borns than purebloods. They were both perfectly comfortable riding on brooms, but with all the hassles of Ron and Draco, they really did not want any more attention upon themselves so they did not show off at all. They did just enough to prove that they could fly safely and then were told to get off the brooms.

Ron was pleased with himself, for getting Draco into trouble. Draco now saw all of the Weasley brothers currently at Hogwarts, there were four of them, as new enemies of the Black and Longbottom families, and vowed to get his revenge. So the next day, when Draco called Ron out to a duel at midnight in the trophy room, Ron immediately agreed. Typical for Draco, he made the deal but then stayed in his dorm room, while Ron was chased out of the trophy room, and ended up in the third floor corridor with the locked door. His friend, and second, Seamus Finnegan, yelled alohomora and waved his wand to unlock the door before Mrs Norris the cat could find them.

Both boys froze when they turned around to discover the large three-headed dog watching them.

The boys were both still frozen and stuck to the door several hours later. Both boys had been scared shitless, and both had soiled their clothes, literally.

It was not until breakfast the next morning when the older Weasley twins began asking where they younger brother was.

The Gryffindor first years put their heads together and finally agreed that Draco had challenged Ron to a duel at midnight in the trophy room, and that Ron and Seamus had left the dorm room at 11.30 PM the night before. Neither of them had returned. The twins took this news to their head of house, Professor McGonagall, who immediately cancelled classes for the day so that the teachers could look for the boys.

Draco flatly denied being involved and swore that he had not left his dorm room all night. Class assignments were given out and everyone was herded back to their common rooms, including those students who were already sitting in classrooms waiting for their lessons to start.

When the boys were finally found in the forbidden corridor, Seamus was scared but still coherent. Ron on the other hand, was pretty much catatonic. He had to be sent to St Mungos for treatment.

Several weeks later on the day of Halloween, Draco was overheard to be telling the muggleborn know-it-all Ravenclaw, Hermione Granger, after a Charms class, "You are a nightmare, honestly! No wonder you don't have any friends." Hermione ran off crying while Draco just smirked. He was slowly working his way through getting rid of all the undesirables in his year. First the weasel, and now, hopefully the mudblood.

At dinner later that evening, the DADA professor ran into the Great Hall and stammered out his message that there were trolls in the dungeon, and then he performed a fake looking faint onto the floor. Henry was quite sceptical. He did not trust the DADA professor. That stammer was not natural, and sounded like a fake. Henry had also heard the man several times, muttering in perfectly normal English with no stuttering at all.

When Professor Dumbledore stood up and announced that everyone needed to return to their Common rooms and dormitories. Henry immediately stood up on his table and contradicted the headmaster.

"Excuse me Headmaster. Are you trying to kill half your school? Why on earth would the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs return to their Common rooms, which are in or close to the dungeons by the way, just to possibly be attacked by this troll which he said," Henry waved his hand at the DADA professor still lying on the floor, "was also in the dungeon? Are you trying to get us killed? We have been told over and over again to get a teacher where there is a situation developing. Well, he says there is a situation developing and I demand that you teachers do your jobs and go find that troll. I am going to stay right here in the Great Hall."

Henry stepped down from the table and sat down. All the members of Hufflepuff sat down right alongside of him. Slytherin house also sat down. Archer looked at Henry as he sat down and raised his eyebrows. "What happened to staying below the radar? We are only first year students. You sure do have balls to be telling the headmaster what to do!"

Henry shrugged. "I just know that I do not want to be wandering around in the dungeons if there really is a troll down there."

Ravenclaw house also sat down and soon the buzz of noise from that house began to rise. Henry heard a few students mentioning the name of Hermione. He quickly looked along the Ravenclaw table and could not see her at all.

The students of Gryffindor house had a quick vote, and they still chose to be brave and leave the great hall because their common room was up on the seventh floor, and they figured that the troll would not get up that far.

Henry was wondering just why no-one was freaking out about how a troll had gotten into the castle in the first place. Someone had to have let it in, and Henry had his suspicions about who that person was.

Everyone was ignoring the DADA professor. Henry was even more suspicious as he watched Professor Quirrell quietly get up from his place on the floor, and disappear out of the main doors. A few minutes later the teachers left the great hall to go deal with the troll, leaving Hagrid, Madam Pince the Librarian, Madam Hooch the Quidditch coach, and Professor Sprout in charge of the students staying in the great hall.

Henry was not to find out until several days later, but Hermione Granger turned out to have been hiding in the library and so missed all the excitement. She and Draco Malfoy were now declared enemies and every time they were in the same room or class, they were often seen throwing death glares or insults and sometimes even hexes at each other.

Noone else was injured while the trolls were strolling around the school, but then again, no-one owned up to or admitted to allowing them into the school in the first place either.

Henry thought that security was clearly quite lax on the headmasters part. He was supposed to be keeping this school safe, but allowing several trolls to wander around, without taking any steps to prevent it from happening again, did not bode well for the school or the students.

Professors Snape and Quirrell were both spotted over the next few days, with unusual injuries. They were both limping and both had bandages wrapped around their forearms. Quirrell had 2 black eyes, while Snape had just one black eye.

The rumours flying around the schools said that both men had been in the forbidden corridor and had had ended up in a huge physical fight, not one with wands, and that the fight was possibly over some kind of treasure.

Henry and Archer were finally given permission to hire private tutors in Potions and History of Magic, thus allowing them to do their independent study. The tutors they hired however, were refused permission by Headmaster Dumbledore to add any other students or new subjects to their tutorial sessions, much to Hermione's disgust.

Quirrells stuttering got worse and DADA class eventually became another class to sleep in. Since Henry and Archer were both already at 4th year levels in both history and potions, it did not take them long to get their studies and homework done. Their tutors were soon persuaded to teach the boys the first year defence curriculum.

As for sports, neither Henry or Archer were on any quidditch teams. Although they knew how to play quidditch and were rather good at it, they had chosen to not partake of this sport while they were "in hiding". Besides, first years were not really allowed to play anyway. Instead they got together with other muggleborn boys, and some of the muggleborn girls, and started up a new football club (Soccer), where the only equipment needed, was a ball and some open space.

Eventually there was enough interest for 3 soccer teams of 11 students, one from each house, to start up an informal league of soccer. Naturally Slytherin house did not lower themselves to play any mundane sports. Each team played every other team twice and was given 3 points for the win, 2 points for the draw and 1 point for the loss.

By the time the students were into the winter month of December, Hermione Granger's marks had slipped down to around 3rd position in the year. She was so used to always being first in her class, she was astounded and then furious. Hermione had assumed that as she would always be at the top of the class, since she clearly the smartest witch of the whole entire (first year) class because she had the highest IQ of everyone else, including the not-so-smart wizards.

While Henry Selwyn and Archer Black no longer attended potions class, Hermione could still see the extreme bias that Professor Snape paid towards his Slytherins despite everyone now using the same edition of the potions textbook. In the last week before the Yule tide holidays (Christmas), Hermione Granger decided that she needed to do something to take back her rightful place at the top of the class.

Hermione had just discovered that her final marks for the end of the first term at Hogwarts had her in 3rd place - behind Henry and Archer. She deserved to be in first place. She had worked very hard to be in first place and she was not going to be denied.

Hermione was getting very upset. No matter how hard she tried, Henry and Archer were always ahead of her, and they always had all the right answers, without even trying. She was sure that they were somehow cheating, and Hermione was determined to find out how.

What made things worse was that those boys were not even Ravenclaws. They were Hufflepuffs and everyone knew that Hufflepuffs were the leftovers who didnt fit into any of the other houses! If they were truly as smart as they seemed, then why were they not put into Ravenclaw?

Hermione decided that it was time to see her head of house and make an official claim of cheating. Maybe their marks would be repudiated and she could end up in her rightful first place. After all, she had done this before.

After knocking on the door of Professor Flitwicks office, she opened the door upon hearing his cheery "Enter".

Flitwick was peering at the door, waiting to see who would appear.

"Miss Granger. How lovely to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" he asked while conjuring up a chair for her to sit on.

"Professor, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I feel that there are some students on the first year who are blatantly cheating and I don't think they truly deserve their high marks or their rank in class." Hermione was twining her hands around each other as she spoke.

"Who are these students, what house are they in and what proof do you have that they are cheating?" Flitwick demanded.

"I'm talking about Henry Selwyn and Archer Black. Between the two of them they are first and second in pretty much every single class, and they dont even seem to be trying. In fact I have seen them sitting back, yawning, twiddling their thumbs and even sleeping in class - and yet they still get high marks. I seldom see them in the library and yet I am there every day, because I have to study in order to keep up my grades."

Filius was shocked. He only had those boys in his charms class, but they were both very good in charms and both very powerful young wizards as well. He didn't see anything wrong with their efforts in class.

Their essays were always a delight to read, filled with interesting details and anecdotes, whereas Hermione seldom put any original effort into her essays. She constantly regurgitated the textbook, never rewrote anything in her own words and frequently went over the length limits. Her essays were quite frankly, rather boring to read.

Filius doubted that Miss Granger was even a true Ravenclaw. She never challenged anything she read or heard. She always accepted anything she read in books as the gospel truth. She seldom challenged anyone in authority at all. If someone from her house did challenge a teacher, Hermione could often been heard ranting at that student after the class and demanding that they didn't challenge anyone anymore because they would lose house points and she wanted to be in the winning house. She was a very competitive person and was desperate to be first. She was known as the bushy-haired know-it-all by all the other houses and even within her own house, she was not very liked at all. Consequently she did not have any real friends.

All this went though Flitwicks mind in just a few seconds. "Can you give me some recent examples of when you saw Mr Selwyn and Mr Black slacking off and then getting a correct answer or a good mark in that same class?"

Hermione sat up, pleased that someone was actually listening to her.

"Defence class yesterday. In our DADA class, Professor Quirrell asked for some examples of spells that were both good and bad, Henry said Wingardium Leviosa. Everyone knows that is a light spell. But Henry said that it can be used for the dark side as well. He said that he can lift up a rock or a piano and chose to drop it on someone's head. That is a light side spell being used for the dark side. I demanded to know why someone would want to do that. He just shrugged and said, 'Because they can?' The Professor gave him 5 points for that answer. Archer said that the Cruciatus curse, which is an unforgiveable, can be used for good. I don't believe him. He said it could be used to shock the heart into restarting, if the heart ever stopped beating. He was given 5 points as well.

"Would you have objected if the points had been given to Ravenclaw?" Flitwick asked.

"No of course not. We are after all the most INTELLIGENT students in this school." Hermione sniffed. Her tone was quite arrogant.

Flitwick nodded. "And you dont think that Hufflepuff deserved those points?"

"No. Everyone knows that all the smart ones are in Ravenclaw. If those boys really are that smart, they should have been put in Ravenclaw and not with all the other losers and left over kids in Puff Town."

Flitwick was not at all happy to hear a first year speaking in such an arrogant and superior manner about other children. So he nodded his head and made his decision.

"Leave this with me, Miss Granger. I will do some investigating over the Yuletide holidays and find out what the story is and then perhaps let the Deputy Headmistress deal with this? I should be able to give you a reply after the next term begins. Is that acceptable?"

Hermione nodded her head. At least now SOMETHING was being looked into and maybe those cheating boys might even be expelled. That would leave the way clear for Hermione to regain the top marks in her class!

Hermione left Professor Flitwick's office with a smile and a lighter heart.


End file.
